Full disclosure: I am writing this before the November 5th election, so it will not contain any up-to-date election information. I do not know yet who will win any of the positions up for election this year. Even if I did wait to write this piece until Election Day, I’d be willing to bet it will be days before we have an official victor in the Presidential Election declared.
Does anyone else feel like they’ve aged more than they’d like during this political season? The unscientific data on my text messages and social media suggests I am not alone. The American Psychological Association (which collects data each election cycle) has found that 70% of Americans “say the future of the nation is a significant source of stress in their lives.”
Over the last ten years, our political climate has felt tense, heightened, and overwhelming in many ways. While I do not know the outcome, I aim to tell you what I do know in the following paragraphs.
The United States is full of citizens from various places with many different backgrounds. Some of us can trace our lineage back many years to the Pilgrims who willingly traveled to a new land, some to the Native American tribes that inhabited these lands long before any Europeans discovered them. Some can trace lineage to forced relocation through chattel slavery. Others still can trace their lineage to workers traveling from Asia to help build the railroad during Western expansion, from Ireland to flee the potato famine, or to escape the horrors before, during, or after World War Two. Still others can remember when their family entered the United States when they were children or they remember when they left their home country to come here on their own. However you came to the United States, you bring value to this country. What I do know is that the United States’ strength comes from its people, people with a variety of backgrounds and life experiences that can be used to strengthen our system and society.
Additionally, here’s what I do know. The American form of government, while imperfect, is the best in the world. We can disagree about policies and positions on various issues, but there is still no other government system I would prefer to live in. We must, however, continue to be dedicated to upholding our democratic system of government and the tenets of our political system: civic participation, the rule of law, and checks and balances. We as a people must take the time to learn about and invest in our own system. We must be connection builders within our communities. We must participate in our political process. We must protect our political institutions with both our words and actions not just for those who look or think like us but also for those who don’t.
How do we, as moms, ensure the continuation of our democratic norms? We do the following:
- We practice empathy and respect in our lives with those with whom we come into contact. We emulate for our children what it looks like to care for others in our community by treating others with respect and an awareness of others’ lived experiences. We teach our kids to look for commonality with others in their community instead of focusing on division and differences.
- We teach our children to be civically engaged through proper modeling of civic engagement ourselves. We stop using the phrase “it’s all corrupt” to excuse our lack of involvement. We show through our actions what it means to be informed citizens who participate in democratic processes. We take them to the school board meetings and to vote at the polls. We talk with them about complex current events in age-appropriate language. We model how to have political discussions and disagreements in a respectful way. We help them to understand that our institutions and norms are not to be taken for granted by supporting principle over party, even when it is the harder choice.
- We rise to the occasion. The current political climate feels overwhelming, and it often feels as though we wish we had lived in a different time from this. But as JRR Tolkien wrote in The Lord of the Rings, “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” We were born into times such as these, and the best gift we can give our children is to work to ensure our country and its democratic norms are there for their time as well.
