I'm Confused

I know, I know, I should avoid politics, but I'm completely confused about the hoopla, the absolute panic out there over the President talking to students in school. What the hell?

Cops come and talk to students at school without causing a panic. Astronauts, poison control experts, fire safety experts, FBI personnel, school administrators, celebrities, politicians... If Ron Paul were to come to my daughter's high school (yes, he's our representative - he ran uncontested), no one would think twice about letting him speak to the kids, and not just a go-to-school lecture. He could pound the drum with his professional agenda because he represents us.

Parents don't demand the right to screen their talks or censor their opinions (and if they feel that strongly, chances are they've already dragged their kids out of school to homeschool). Unless a teacher does something completely off the wall (like teach *gasp* evolution), most parents don't feel the need to screen everything children hear in school. And that's a good thing.

Folks, Obama represents as well. We, in fact, voted him to head up our government, represent our interests, lead the executive branch. We should not be panicked at the notion that he's going to address our children about education. He is a living breathing example of education gone well. He has made no bones about his opinions on this subject, that he takes it seriously, that he considers education a key to our future. If you don't want your kids to get that message, why are they in school at all?

If we can't trust the President to talk to our kids why would we trust him with the office we've elected him to? What are we mad about? That he is open and communicative, not just with children but with all of us? Oh, the horror!

If you bought into this whole hysteria, perhaps you should pause and reflect. When we start panicking, not over what someone has done, but what we're afraid will happen (with absolutely no evidence that those fears are justified), perhaps we should ask ourselves the real reasons we're so reluctant to treat the man we elected with trust, why the reactions we so often hear are so extreme. I hate to ascribe anything to racism, but it's challenging not to think that people wouldn't be so quick to judge, so easy to manipulate if they weren't distrustful at some level of his skin color, if those prejudices are really overcome. If you are worried about him, write down the crimes he's committed to date, the horrible things done and ask yourself if he's really committed a crime or if it's presumed future crimes that really are getting him painted with the ugly brush.

And ask yourself if fear, prejudice, and paranoia are really a better lesson for our children than the lessons he is trying to impart.

One last observation. Am I the only one who thinks it would be a very canny policy to remain calm in the face of unending paranoia and hysteria so that the wolf-callers and fearmongers would have ample opportunity to look foolish and be demonstrated wrong over and over?

Just sayin'.

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