Maria on her school pulpit

I picked Maria up from school early on Friday.  This excited her greatly and she gabbed the entire walk home.  Typically, the gabbing would be about her and Mario when they were younger – how silly they were, what foods they liked, what hilarious things they did.  She loves hearing stories about her and Mario when they were “little.”  But on this fall day in November, the talk turned to politics.  We passed an Issue 2 sign in the front yard of a house on the path home. 

“Mom, Issue 2 is bad for nurses and teachers.”

“How do you know about Issue 2?” 

“I have heard people talking about it and I saw a commercial with a firefighter on it and he talked about not being able to put out fires if Issue 2 passes. I don’t think teachers at work like it either because they don’t get a lot of money.”

She asked why they created Issue 2.  We discuss the different political parties – the democrats and the Republicans and the Tea Partiers and the Liberals.  I explain to her that we have a republican as governor in Ohio and lots of republicans in the legislature and they wanted to take a stance against unions in the public sector so they created this bill to lessen their influence.  I explained that they did it very fast and without much discourse with constituents or other leaders. She chimed in:

“Why can’t politicians just communicate with each other?”  Why do they always have to fight?  It is like when the Native Americans were here before we were. People should just talk and understand each other. Maybe if they had done that, they could have made something that everyone liked.”

My girl.  She is our next generation.  Thank god. 

Who wouldn't vote for this face?!

She went on to counsel me on voting “no” on Issue 2.  I told her that Sarah and I had seen a teacher running the marathon with a “Vote No on Issue 2” shirt and we yelled “Right on!’ to her as we ran by her.  Maria asked if the teacher had long brown hair wrapped in a ponytail and really pretty eyes.  I said I couldn’t remember but didn’t think so.  She explained to me that Zach’s teacher has brown hair and pretty eyes and she likes to run like me.  She continued to explain that everyone thinks she is “sexy” but that she is also really smart and funny and nice.  

“Why does that matter?” I asked to provoke her into hopefully giving a response I want to hear.

“Because, being pretty is not everything.  You should be nice and funny and smart because those are really important.” 

My girl.  She is our next generation.  Thank god.

When we got home. Jon and I exchanged notes on the day.  Maria had talked with him that morning about Issue 2 and her concerns with it.  The girl had been campaigning him against it, too!  What a little politician in the making.