Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Can we just play nice?

As the mother of a toddler I am constantly trying to find ways to teach my daughter how to play nice. No biting, no pinching, use your inside voice. It makes me think about this upcoming battle conservatives and liberals are preparing to wage against any choice George Bush makes for his nomination to the Supreme Court. As someone who leans a little more to the liberal side of the spectrum especially on personal freedom issues, my first reaction was fear that he will actually get to make this choice. But I feel we all need to step back and allow the process to unfold without our guard up, let's not lay in wait ready to pounce.

I hope that Bush tries to prevent as much controversy as possible by consulting those who will confirm the nomination. But it drives me nuts to see the lines of war already being drawn, it appears no matter who he chooses, someone is ready to spend our tax dollars fighting it. I feel we are losing some of the dignity involved in the political process. Everyone who comes in is almost guaranteed to be chewed up and spit out. Regardless of your political beliefs, it's important to recognize that the people being considered for nomination in are in tops of their careers, the personal microscope that our process has become cannot be becoming to anyone.

Can we go back to the time when we had a respect for how our founding fathers set up the checks and balances of the process? Can we show some respect for the people we have voted into office to make these decisions? We all need to recognize that this is a very divided country right now and compromise is needed on all fronts. I think that this is something we learned about as toddlers compromise, inside voice, take turns, respect. These are things I am teaching my daughter, how can I teach the rest of the country?

No comments: