Chalkboard Politics

There’s a chalkboard hanging on the wall next to our breakfast table where I write what my husband has dubbed “Mom’s missive of the day.” Some days it’s a love note to my family, on others it’s a plea – Let it snow! Has made frequent appearances, much to the delight of my little skiers. But for most of January the chalkboard bore messages about the upcoming Nevada caucuses (we live in Reno). “Voting is a privilege,” I wrote one day – even though I realize it’s also a right. “Voting is an obligation,” I wrote on another. It never fails that my two older kids, Liam, 10 and Julia, 8, ask me about these particular notes. And of course during the weeks leading up the caucuses we could not escape the politicking that was going on here. In addition to the 10 phone calls a day we got for two weeks straight – from candidates in both parties because my husband was a registered independent – the morning news was loaded with ads from all the candidates. When the caucuses were days away, I went to see Barack Obama speak, and took Julia and Carina, 4, to see Senator Clinton. (I regret that I didn’t go see Ron Paul and John McCain, who also made stops in our zip code). One of my earliest childhood memories is of knocking on doors with my parents, who canvassed neighborhoods in support of various causes and candidates they believed in. While I’ve never been “involved” in politics, I don’t think I’ve ever missed voting in a major election. At this point, I won’t pretend to have a firm grasp yet on the candidates’ policies, but I am definitely paying close attention. I do know there is a lot at stake for our country, and for the world, right now. I worry every day about the United States that my children will inherit. I worry that if something doesn’t give, we will push beyond the tipping point, in terms of the environment….health care….the national debt…..the ability to provide basic education and health services for all our citizens. These issues literally keep me awake at night. I don’t have the answers, and I have only admiration for the people in both parties who are willing to try and solve the problems we face. When the day of the caucuses finally arrived, my husband was out of town and I offered my girls the option to stay with a neighbor of come with me to what I had been warned would be a long morning; Liam was gone at a ski race. We brought crayons and drawing paper to the designated spot in our precinct and then spent two hours listening to people -- anyone who wanted to could talk-- try to make a case for the various candidates. When the talking was over, each candidate’s name was called and each of us literally raised a hand to vote. It was astonishingly low-tech. My girls were good sports – it was about 25 degrees outside and because the voter turnout was about10 times more than anticipated, we had to stand outside for the whole process since the small building where we met was packed full. I wish I could tell you that my girls found the whole thing fascinating and that we have had some meaningful discussions about the presidential elections, but mostly they thought it was fun to see some of their friends from school walking handing out t-shirts and bumper stickers and walking around with signs supporting their (parents’) favorite candidate. Last week Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had a debate that was particularly notable for one thing it lacked: acrimony. I hope they can continue to have this important exchange of ideas and opinions so that more of us will be willing to pay attention to what they are saying and planning to do. If they can, maybe we’ll stay tuned instead of switching over to Entertainment Tonight.