If we allow fear, hate or bigotry to persuade us to elect someone this unqualified to be President, then, in my opinion, we have lost a tremendous amount of moral high ground in our own homes.
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As someone who has worked in a number of local and state campaigns, I try to give an ear to just about every candidate running for office. I ran for a city council seat several years ago, and I know personally how frustrating it is when you see how much apathy there is in the electorate. The vast majority of people don’t want to be bothered with elections, politicians or platforms. They simply want to walk in and pull the lever for whoever had the sharpest advertisement or the most name recognition, if they even vote at all.
That’s why Donald J. Trump is so troubling to me.
He’s the epitome of a force in the universe that we don’t need. A living breathing caricature of everything we don’t want our children to be.
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Certainly all of his supporters are not first-time voters, and many of them are well intentioned and generally keep up with what’s going on in the world. However, there are large numbers of people who have rallied behind him who have never taken the slightest interest in politics, especially on the national level. Many of these people, like Trump, don’t understand any of the actual responsibilities or powers that belong to the president. This also means they have a very poor grasp on the consequences of someone like Trump becoming our next President. No matter which category one falls into, Trump has been able to capture the hearts of millions and that leads me to one question for my fellow dads, how?
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For fathers trying to raise their children to be better citizens of the world, I have to wonder why on earth would you support someone like Trump? He’s the epitome of a force in the universe that we don’t need. A living breathing caricature of everything we don’t want our children to be. He’s a bully, a blowhard, and he shows that he has absolutely no respect for anyone but himself. Some of his actions and comments over the last few months would get our children suspended from school! There is nothing about him that should be considered a role model for our younger generations.
I try to teach my children to respect and care for everyone, no matter their background or status in life. How as a father could I support someone to be President of The United States of America, that doesn’t even pretend to live up to the same standards that I hold my children to? In my opinion, we can’t desire the next leader of the free world to have less moral authority than my seven-year-old! What does it say to our children when we rally behind someone spewing language on the campaign trail that we would ground them for? The mean-spirited rhetoric that comes from the Trump campaign should be the type of language that fathers avoid.
Most of us strive to have children who are educated and well rounded, who have a firm grasp on the topics they are studying. We want them to be able to comprehend the tasks we give them responsibility for. We don’t send them out one day to cut the lawn with no knowledge of how to start the mower; they have to show us that they are capable. Yet, so many are willing to cast their votes for Trump, who as far as I can tell, hasn’t shown any real knowledge of the job he is attempting to acquire.
My son not knowing where he shouldn’t stick his hand on the mower is dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as a presidential candidate who doesn’t know what the nuclear triad is. Even if my son has a lot of smart friends that know more about cutting grass and lawn mowers than anyone else, it’s still his responsibility to get it cut, but my problem if he knocks out the neighbors window.
We want our kids to be self-reliant, problem solvers, well-rounded individuals. We want them to be able to work through issues and conflicts in peaceful ways. Simply watching a debate can tell you pretty quickly that these aren’t qualities Mr. Trump has. He slings insults over the slightest disagreement; he attacks people personally based on appearance and gender. He makes broad generalizations about entire populations of people based simply on race. He labels people merely by the tone of their skin or the accent in their voice. These aren’t qualities we should want in members of our families, even less as a representative for the world of what America is.
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That’s not the country I grew up in, it’s not what we stand for, and it’s certainly not the world I want my children to become accustomed to.
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I try to teach my kids that they are in control of their lives, that what happens to them is a product of their actions. Good or bad grades are a result of their study habits, and success or failure in sports or other extracurricular activities is mainly about their own preparation, not anyone else’s. Donald Trump is telling us that all the problems in this country are from the outside and from people who came here from other places.
He is telling people that they aren’t responsible for their failures and that all our problems are solved if we build a wall and kick people out. That’s not the country I grew up in, it’s not what we stand for, and it’s certainly not the world I want my children to become accustomed to.
If we allow fear, hate or bigotry to persuade us to elect someone this unqualified to be President, then, in my opinion, we have lost a tremendous amount of moral high ground in our own homes. When we don’t hold our elected leaders to the same standards, we hold ourselves or even our families to, then we have already failed as a nation. More importantly, we have failed as fathers.
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Photo: Flickr/ Matthew Trudeau Photogra
Some of these responses blow my mind … People need to get away from main stream media and start to move outside that “box” so that they can make educated comments/decisions. BTW, I have an adopted son who lives in Germany and his wife is Muslim. I’m also married to a Mexican (who prides herself as being “American” who came here legally). Too many paint us with a wide brush and give into the BS that the medial puts out. In so far as Trump? I’m undecided but it’s for darn sure the Democrats has nobody that I would be… Read more »
Excuse me but Donald Trump will make America a very scary place for those of us who believe in supporting the rights of women and people of color. This past holiday I enjoyed a wonderful Christmas-Kwanzaa-Hannukah celebration with my daughters and their boyfriends’ families. My brother has also recently converted to judaism for his wife. This was the most incredible and warmhearted get-together I had ever hosted. On December 25th I had to temporarily turn off my Christmas lights so as not to offend my guests, but I simply reminded myself that my non-White relatives and future family members would… Read more »
I don’t like Trump. I have a no jerk policy when it comes to associations and he’s a wold class jerk. Hillary on the other hand has promoted circumcision of men in Africa as Secretary of State. Poor African men were paid to get circumcised. Talking about abusing wealth and power and taking advantage of poor people. I can find nothing even remotely on that scale that Trump has actually done. Thus I take an anyone but Hillary approach to voting and I’ve voted straight democrat for the last 28 years.
Why would someone be offended by Christmas lights? And, if they were, who would be so rude as to insist on the lights being shut off.
I’ve visited with people of multiple faiths and never tried to repress the expression of their faiths. My children have friends who are Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh etc… None of us would find the demonstration of other faiths offensive.
Reading the commentary on this article, particularly at the Facebook level, I’m both astounded and furious at the right wingedness. To me, the right wing has dragged (or is it drug, or drugged?) the Republican party over the edge long ago, and yet so many people who don’t seem stupid, crazy, or evil still maintain allegiance, even enough to be offended by the suggestion that Donald Trump might be, well, evil, or at least very wrong. Nevertheless, in an attempt to understand the political divide which makes people lose their minds over such talk, I’m going to attempt to understand… Read more »
It was only a matter of time before someone as odious as Trump came along to try and stop the progress that’s been made in recent decades. Trump is a throwback to the ugly political world of the pre-Civil Rights era, when saying outright racist stuff was still acceptable and people respected shallow “masculinity.” Now it’s now 2016 and we still have White men acting they deserve to be on top just because they have power and wealth. Truth be told, I used to vote republican but now I’m a bonafide Bernie supporter, though if Hillary is the nominee I… Read more »
I like it when some people will make these simple statements.”He is telling people that they aren’t responsible for their failures and that all our problems are solved if we build a wall and kick people out.” Where is he telling anyone they aren’t responsible for their future? But that’s not the part of what you said that I take as much issue with.. “build a wall and kick people out” … I hope that you become more informative when it comes to your klds? The issue of immigration and the solutions are far more involved then how you stated… Read more »
failures = future? (read your own post) Take issue if you will with illegal immigrants, but despite their technical illegality, there are many valid reasons why “kicking them out” is impractical, immoral, and economically unadvisable. Trump is, at the very least, portraying himself as a racist jerk, and therefore, deserves to be labeled as such. Candidates who will not take into account the fact that illegal immigrants grease the cogs of our economy, that “rounding them up” and deporting them would take untold billions of tax dollars, and that doing so would result in horrific documentary footage of families torn… Read more »
@ Paul “all involving a pathway to citizenship, which is in everyone’s best interest.” I think people assume it, but I don’t know that’s it’s true. It’s one of those things liberal / progressives want to state as truth, but don’t actually bother to prove. It may not even be in the best interests of those same immigrants who choose to come here to work 40 years with the intention of returning to their own country. You are right in the sense that the debate is fueled by self interest. Most immigrants like my family who came here legally do… Read more »
True, but I think I would divide the situation into two problems. One is that there are so many undocumented immigrants here already. The other is that there are more who will come. You’re right, simply insisting on a path for citizenship for those who are “caught” might not have any effect on future illegal immigration; securing borders is a related, but separate issue. In the meantime, there are many millions of people, most of whom are hardworking and honest, who are already here. Each of them has a nuanced story, and most of those stories aren’t of some dangerous… Read more »
“But it seems that it’s a negative and uncharitable argument to simply say that it’s unfair if they get a pathway to citizenship. I’ve heard the proposal from the Obama administration and it didn’t sound like a particularly easy pathway to me. – See more at: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/why-no-dad-should-vote-for-donald-trump-kcon/#sthash.EJhYecnJ.dpuf”
Not the question to ask. The question is is it easier than doing it the legal way. If it is then it doesn’t work. It won’t discourage illegal immigration. Second is why doesn’t sending them back at some point work? Why automatically grant them citizenship instead of some other legal, but non-citizen status?
“My son not knowing where he shouldn’t stick his hand on the mower is dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as a presidential candidate who doesn’t know what the nuclear triad is.”
Unlike the candidate applying for the commander and chief of the armed forces who wants a no fly zone over Iraq and Syria to stop all those non-existent ISIS planes.