The last 4-5 years, I have become a political junkie. Especially since I've been home, I listen to talk radio to stay informed and to keep my mind working on a more intellectual level while I change diapers, give bottles, and read children's books. I can discuss all these issues with Mike, of course, and he is very educated in the political arena (Although he has become less intrigued over the past few years with specifics - it can become predictable. He has moved onto other interests). Unfortunately, there are very few people I can talk about these topics with. Many friends either do not share political and religious views, or they are not interested/informed about the topics. And when that is the case, it is just easier to not start a passionate debate that you know will be on shaky ground! :)
Thank goodness that hope is a virtue for Christians! This week I have surprised myself with how disappointed and actually worried about I am with the direction this country is going. I stayed fairly close to the t.v. on Sunday to see the events unfold on capitol hill with the health reform bill. I was not at all surprised to see it pass, but my gut dropped about a foot as I listened to how this America is changing. America in decline; or as a friend said kind of jokingly, but half serious, "America is over"! Just the debt alone that our children will be saddled with is incomprehensible. This bill may not seem 'bad' to some people, but the most frightening part for me is the avalanche affect it has started toward socialized medicine. When I studied in Italy for a semester, I was so anxious to come home to America. Now, I find that America is becoming like the dysfunctional European countries. I find that I am more invested in these issues since I have kids. If I were the only one that I needed to be concerned with, well, whatever. I can deal with it. But to think of the kind of world my kids will grow up in - it is disheartening. My parents did not even have any health insurance when my brother, John, was born. And now we are being forced to buy something even if we do not want it - and it is not cheap! Not to mentioned publicly funded abortions and not to mention all the dirty deals that happened. Nancy Pelosi truly is a despicable individual (a self-proclaimed "ardent Catholic," to boot). It is stunning to think about our congressmen. Do they have no principles at all that they can be bought off in such a way?? How can they look at themselves in the mirror! Really!!
As I was listening to John Boehner give a speech on the floor on Sunday night, Mike and I started talking about the greatness of the Roman orator, Cicero. We both were fortunate to be able to teach Cicero for many years at Trinity. This John Boehner was weak; all our congressmen are pathetic. You just do not hear any good oration anymore. It used to be an art, now it is just wimpy rhetoric.
Cicero's speeches against Catiline in the first century A.D were clever, intelligent, passionate, persuasive, full of historical references, poetic, invective, humorous - his work is an art. The fact that I can take out his speeches 2,000 years later and study them for pleasure is a testament in and of itself. And what he said was true! That is the satisfying part. It would do our country good to study such a great man. [Mike chimes in: Our forefathers did study Cicero, and in fact they built this "res publica," our republic, on the Roman conception of democracy, not the Greek. Unfortunately, our current politicians are dismantling the republic, and ironically in much the same way that the ancient liberals destroyed Rome.]
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