I had the good fortune to see the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi address the 2008 Democratic National Convention last night. Prior to her speech, the program included a brief sketch of her career, which included a statement that went something like this: "My time in congress has been an extension of my job as a Mother."
I laughed as I recalled this article I wrote some months ago: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/52884. I had to laugh to keep from crying over how frustratingly accurate it is in depicting the Democrat view of government. Clearly Speaker Pelosi sees her role in the House as that of Mother. She sees herself as the Mother of our Country, and us as her children who need her care and protection. It sounds like when her biological children left home, she came down with an American-sized case of empty nest syndrome, and adopting all Americans as her children was the cure for her blues.
When I think of the role of a Mother, I certainly think of care and protection, however, I think more of guidance, nurturing and a preparation for adulthood. The job of a Mother is to care for and protect her children, but only long enough to give them the skills and values they need to care for themselves. Who among us has not seen Mothers who refuse to let their children grow up, with a variety of unhappy outcomes. What self-respecting Mother wants her children to be clinging into adulthood anyway? The Mother who fails to send her children from the nest with the tools to care for themselves has failed utterly.
Speaker Pelosi's view of her role as Mother, and the role of government to care for us all from cradle to grave, is echoed in the kind of policies that keep too many Americans dependent. Our dependence on government ensures she and others like her will always have a job as Mommy and a huge shopping budget with which to care for us. To me, this is a kind of crooked self-promotion and a conflict of interest. It may give her a sense of value and gratification, but it gives the rest of us mostly a sense of a higher tax burden, and a loss of the ability to care for ourselves.
I gather Speaker Pelosi is a lovely, well meaning lady, with a deep concern for our country. However, if she is determined to be the Mother of our Country, couldn't she be more the kind of mother who teaches her children the virtues of self-reliance and independence rather than dependence, helplessness and reliance upon government to solve human problems.
Madam Speaker, George Washington is known as the Father of our Country; it is a figure of speech. We don't need you to be the Mother of our Country. We need you to represent us, with an insistence on independence, self-reliance and accountability. If you must be a Mother, please do it on your own time and your own dime.
