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Lessons From My Three Year Old Daughter
September 1, 2010
My three year old daughter is awesome. She’s got more energy than Lance Armstrong, she has an active and never ending imagination, and she is finally (God bless her) figuring out the difference between right and wrong.
More amazing than that, however, is that my daughter has taught me much in regards to advancing the Conservative cause.
(Quick editorial note from my daughter: “Daddy, I am almost four!”)
Thus, here are three lessons I have learned from my daughter that I want to share with fellow Conservatives:
1. Conservatives need to learn to share and play well with other Conservatives…
This is a constant battle at our home. For some reason when my daughter has friends over she becomes territorial, greedy, and stubborn with her bounty of toys. She goes from being a princess to being a total monster.
But if you think about it the conservative movement is much the same way. Within our tent I have seen Tea Parties, 9/12 Groups, and especially our main political party ally be absolutely unwilling at times to share best practices, imaginative ideas, contact lists, and chances to work together.
Granted, in many cases there are certain laws we must be careful to abide by.
However, if we fail to share key information and ideas with each other (in the proper time and place), we continue to lose the opportunity to unite under common ideas and banners for a common good. The unfortunate consequence are missed strategic instances to advance our cause – all because of turf wars, information hoarding, and, (to put it bluntly) an unwillingness to share credit.
It is almost as frustrating as my daughter screaming about another kid playing with her Dora backpack.
2. Conservatives need to learn to make “Good Choices”…
The phrase “Good Choices” is the battle hymn of our household. By this constant drumbeat we are doing our best to make our daughter realize that her choices (good or bad) have consequences.
Indeed, this too is something that all Conservatives need to learn. Why? Because as our movement grows and continues to prosper, all of us will increasingly be under the scrutiny of the Left. At this very moment they are patiently waiting for us to say something “racist”, do something “extreme”, or make a choice that they can use to advance their narrative of us being “hate-mongers”.
Folks, it is not enough to simply talk about integrity – we must also live lives of integrity. We must focus on why our ideas and philosophies work better for more people. On the flip side, we must avoid only talking about how horrible someone is or how much we don’t like them just because they believe and live differently than we do.
Simply, we must stay above the fray of the nasty, dirty, and personal attacks from those who don’t agree with us. Let them hate all they want. This is who they are.
As individuals and as groups we must make wise choices about how we go about changing our country and taking it back to what our Founders envisioned. We must not become that which we despise. Like my daughter, we must learn to make “good choices”.
3. Conservatives need to learn to “use our words”…
As crazy as it sounds, my daughter throws the occasional fit (yes, it’s true). She starts screaming and crying and very quickly gets completely incoherent. Thus, she fails to communicate to us what the problem is.
It is in these situations that my wife and I say to her, “It’s okay – use your words.” What we are doing is trying to calm her down enough to effectively tell us what she is thinking and feeling and why she is so upset.
Why is this important for conservatives? As people who truly believe in this movement, we must learn how to effectively communicate our views, our plans, the truth, and why our ideas are better for this country. We must understand how to communicate as candidates for public office, as those who will hold our elected officials accountable, and to those who will increasingly want to fight this battle alongside us.
At the same time, we must use our words carefully and effectively in the midst of our righteous anger, an opponent that will do anything to win, and an electorate at large that is oftentimes apathetic and uneducated about the issues.
I truly believe in my heart that the ideas of the Conservative Movement are better, wiser, and add nothing but prosperity and freedom to our nation. Thus, I am choosing to use my words to encourage, teach, and change this country through those ideas.
If we as the Conservative Movement can learn to do all of these things, we will be well on our way to winning the battle that lies ahead for our liberty and freedom.
And those are not bad lessons to learn from a three year old.
Seth and Teresa, God belss you for keeping order in your home and raising your children with the values necessary to live with integrity, commpassion and justice. The inconsistencies between the sectors of this movement to regain our nation will disintegrate us as surely as failure to unite and abide within the structure of the family. Our Father is not the author of confusion; everything successfully acomplished is done with order. That is the very basis for the formation of the country. I
I am blessed to be in a household that is raising three year olds. I am very thankful for the many Christian lessons they are teaching us any we teach them.
The Silent Majority is silent no longer. They have begun to organize as the Left has successfully implemented years ago. The Majority stayed silent and conducted their activities quietly lacking any centralized groups or organizations. The many sites now dedicated to preserving the USA’s Constitution and united for small government, limited taxes, and continuing the Free Market as was intended in the Constitution. Although I am relatively new at being a conservative, I am confident that these like-minded individuals can save America from the Progressive slide into Socialism and Global Government. I like the fact that our country is like no other in the world. We need to KEEP it that way!
I was with you until you mentioned your daughter had a Dora the Explorer backpack. I turn off shows devoted to teaching American children to speak Spanish, refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance in schools,(My grandsons were watching a sitcom the other day and the young black child on the show told his dad he refused to salute the American Flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance and did not see why such old values were still being required at schools. His dad told him he was proud of him. I turned the show off!!!!!I also used my parental controls to block it as one of the shows my grandchildren can watch.!!!!Dora the Explorer is a prelude to allowing ILLEGAL’S more acceptance. I turn it off!!!!