Early in my life I became aware of the cowardly act of “shunning”.
I lived with my Quaker Grandparents in Swarthmore Pa. for 5 years as my father was deployed to Korea and Japan during the Korean War. My mother worked at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, so my grandmother became my surrogate mother.
Most people know that many Quakers have been conscientious objectors dating back to our own Revolution. They also were the tip of the spear in fights against slavery (the underground railroad was a Quaker project) and the women’s suffrage movement.
My Uncle Joe Gaskill became a Navy pilot and fought during the Korean conflict flying Corsairs off aircraft carriers—an incredibly brave task in wartime and in times of peace.
My grandparents and I would go to Quaker meeting every Sunday. One Sunday as we walked in several—not all, of the people who had been lifelong friends of our family turned their backs to us as we walked into the meeting hall. I was young—maybe five years old, but it sent a shiver down my spine that I have never forgotten. Years later I was able to reconstruct the pieces of that puzzle. The very people who preach tolerance and acceptance, the people who make up much of the progressive movement today who embrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the people who claim to be the most woke, are in fact the least tolerant of those amongst us. I have heard Joey Behar call Donald Trump a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, and a hater of Jews—he whose daughter and grandchildren have embraced Judaism. Does he hate his own family? Have THE VIEW spoken out against HAMAS and radical Islamic movements that have shut down college campuses this spring? Have they supported Israel in its fight against Islamic barbarism?
What about Barak Obama in 2008 saying that people who live in small midwestern towns “cling to their guns and religion”? What about Hillary (“I ain’t no ways tired”) calling Trump supporters “deplorables”? What could be any more patronizing, condescending, and even dismissive than taking on the vernacular African American Southern accent when it is not the way one usually speaks?
I would much prefer being led by a bunch of legislators who looked at parenthood as being a vocation. I grew up in a world and went to medical school where a young woman often times had to make a choice—career or family. Today that is not the case. When a CEO declares that her fiduciary allegiance is for the good of his company and the profits of his shareholders—which is the correct position of a CEO, then building a manufacturing plant in Vietnam that takes away American jobs is an ethical decision. If he or she as a parent sees their priorities as being faith, family, and country, then taking away those American jobs may change their calculus.
There is no question that slavery was the Great American Original Sin. No country in the world has sacrificed more of its own blood and valor to abolish slavery. Women’s rights were established in our country long before the Quaker-led women’s ‘suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries became popular. Few people know that the State of New Jersey allowed women and blacks to vote in 1790, before our Constitution was even established; before Wilberforce and Lord North abolished slavery in The British Empire. We have always been moving forward on these issues. Jim Crow has been replaced by the “silent slavery of economic prejudice” that still presents in our society and will need to be addressed forever. They are best addressed by ferreting out the evil in men’s souls, not by coercing overt and covert behavior that many times reinforces the prejudices that are trying to be erased. “Love thy neighbor”. “Do unto others”. “He amongst you who is without sin…”
Mr. Vance’s response to the criticism of his quote is perfect:
“So, this is not a criticism, and was never a criticism, of everybody without children. That is a lie of the left. It is a criticism of the increasingly antiparent and antichild attitude of the left,” Vance said. “I’m going to keep on calling that out, because I think it’s important for parents to have a voice.”
That was the point of the “Cat Lady” quote. Policies are being promulgated by people who do not see the family as the central pillar of society. John Kennedy understood this. John Patrick Moynahan—the great Democratic liberal sociologist and US Senator from New York understood this, and those at the forefront of the Christian Conservative movement understand this. The great woman leaders of the 20th century understood the importance of family, and all were great mothers—for example Maggie Thatcher and Golda Maier.
One of the great quotes that came out of the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts of the twentieth century was from Golda Maier—a mother and a world leader:
“When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.”
Could someone who did not understand the virtues and responsibilities of parenthood have made such an argument?
Conservative Christian families of all colors and nationalities understand this. WE are tired of being marginalized, ridiculed, characterized, and most importantly shunned by people who don’t share our belief in God and family. What they did to Sarah Palin they are trying to do to J. D. Vance. In our State the local lobbyist industrialist “deep state” did the same thing to Janet McGeachin and Priscilla Giddings”—talk about chauvinistic!
The big issue in the upcoming election is who has policies that support faith and family? Who believes in The Principles of our Founding, principles grounded in Natural Law and Biblical ideals? Who will speak openly that “their faith informs every aspect of their lives”—Paul Ryan in an unusual and rare moment of clear thought.
We are a country Founded by Christian people, and our Founding Documents reflect a faith in “Divine Providence”. We want leaders who will reflect those ideals and who believe in those ideals and whose politics is informed by those ideals. We want leaders who aren’t ashamed to publicly express their faith in God and express a reliance on Him when applying their own judgement and discernment—even if they are “shunned” by the mainstream press and those in the elite ruling classes.
