What do America's shopkeepers, schoolteachers, summer lifeguards, pediatricians and class moms know that politicians don't? Better parenting is the answer to America's problems.
Ultimately, it's the way to reduced crime, improved school performance, lower rates of accidental injuries and deaths, a more educated and dedicated work force, increased health and fitness (ergo, lower health care costs) - not to mention better dental hygiene and the return of table manners.
Better parenting would alleviate road rage, eradicate the always inappropriate "belly shirt," squash the influence of MTV and maybe even reduce wildfires in California and soap scum in America's showers.
Better parenting would produce more responsible citizens - the kind who vote, and not just for the people they think will put money in their pockets. It would reduce pollution, increase private investment and probably even stop global warming.
Let's face it, where Mom and Dad are getting the job done, things look pretty good. And where they're not - well, there is mayhem.
Just look around you at the community pool this week to see if I'm right about that.
On Sunday, one politician finally took note of the importance of parents - or at least fathers - as Sen. Barack Obama ascended the pulpit at a Chicago megachurch to offer his take on the subject of fatherhood.
Perhaps his talk reflected his lifelong sense of abandonment by his own father that turned into a lifetime commitment to his two children. Or maybe it was just a well-orchestrated bone tossed out to "family values" types on Father's Day.
Either way, Mr. Obama's sharply worded criticism of absentee fathers - specifically, absentee black fathers - made for some noteworthy headlines.
In bold letters, Americans on Monday read that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee "urges black fathers to be more engaged in raising their children," "reminds dads that fatherhood doesn't end at conception" and says "fathers must play a bigger role in guiding their children."
I don't believe it's a theme he'll revisit, since Father's Day has now come and gone. (Who me? Cynical?) But he should - and so should Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee - and not just the subject of fatherhood, but of parenthood in America and its connection to the state of our culture generally.
Sadly, we've reached the point where a politician on Father's Day feels called to exhort his fellow fathers to simply be present in the lives of their children. Not that any of the men to whom his comments were directed were likely to be in the pews anyway, but that's not the point.
The point is, he's got a point, but he didn't take it far enough.
The problem isn't just that black fathers aren't stepping up to the plate and fulfilling their responsibilities to support and guide their children.
It's that an entire generation of American parents of all racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds seems to be either indulging its offspring in a weird and exhausting child-centric pediarchy, or else bailing on the job of parenting entirely, leaving it to television to instill values while it lulls the little ones to sleep.
The message from politicians ought to be, "Hey, folks, there's only so much we elected officials can do. If you'd get busy on the job God gave you and raise up a generation of hardworking, responsible, conscientious, healthy and patriotic Americans, we'd all be a lot better off."
It's a great stump speech, but I doubt either of the major candidates will give it.
The first one who does gets my vote, that's for sure. |