Baron, Mike and me on politics and family

From Sunday's Jeff/NA News-Tribune, three essays from Sodrel, Hill, and me-- on politics and family...

Baron's essay emphasizes political activity, but also calls people to pay attention to local issues and encourages policy debate. Mike's essay reads like a primer on U.S. Civics-- emphasizing knowledge and the purpose and processes of politics over political activity per se.

My essay is more similar to Mike's in focusing on knowing what we're doing in politics more than activity for its own sake. Here's what I wrote:

My four young children didn't see much “politics” in my congressional race. My opponents didn't bother to attack me in their ads. And I didn't share much with my children about the political issues in the campaign. They're too young to understand most of it.

My kids did notice a lot of our political activity. They saw that I was busy doing new activities. They thought it was cool that my name and picture were in the newspapers. They liked wearing T-shirts with our name on it and handing out pencils at the county fairs. They rolled in laughter at some of the lines we had in our radio ads.

Over and above politics, my wife Tonia and I want to teach our kids to have a coherent Christian worldview of government: When is it appropriate to use government as a means to various ends? In what context is it okay for the government to take money from some people in order to give it to others? (When one child takes a toy from another, I often half-joke with them that they can't do that since “you're not the government”.) When should we get the government to prevent people from doing something - or to force them to do something else? Under what conditions should our country attack another country?

Typically, people have a narrow view of government, focusing on one or two issues that are most important to them. This is understandable because we're fortunate to live in a country where we don't need to pay much attention to politics. But this also leads most people to have an incoherent approach to government and to embrace government “solutions” far too easily. Too often, the results are harmful, especially for the working poor and those in the middle class who are not connected to a special interest group. This is unacceptable, and we hope to convey that to our children.

The most poignant moment in the campaign was when one of my sons asked if I would win. I said probably not. He asked if I would finish second. Again, I said probably not - that I'd probably lose by a lot. I could see the puzzled look on his face, because he usually sees me being “successful”. It was a great opportunity for me to convey the crucial idea that you have to do the right thing, even if you don't think that you'll win.