2012 Presidential Election

With Jon Huntsman Jr. announcing his candidacy for presidency today I feel compelled to finally begin posting.  I met Jon Huntsman during the Governor's race in Utah.  I was able to sit down and have a meal with him.  I asked him several question's mainly about education.  I was very impressed with his answers and the confidence he had that he would make a difference. He also remembered me and made it a point to shake my hand  at the county convention that evening. I felt honored.  My point is not to sound boastful, but rather to make a plea to anyone that might read this to please make an informed decision in the up coming months regarding this election. I am a government/History teacher for 7th and 8th grade student's.  I love my job. It absolutely drove some of my students crazy that I would not tell them which political party that I belonged to.  Many of them wanted to be sure that I felt the same way they did. We had many conversations about the current President. They would make pretty bold statements about him.  I would ask them why they felt so negative, many times they would look at me like "well don't ya know?"  When they would say thing's like"he is a Muslim" or "he wasn't born in the U.S. I would say "would you find me some proof of that?"  They would run over to the computer and search it and not be able to find anything that was from a reliable source.  I fear that we as American's have become to much of a dinner table voting people.  Our children opinions are formed by what they have heard at the dinner table and the education of the candidates goes no further than that. Don't get me wrong the dinner time conversations are very valuable, but are we teaching our children how to form their own opinion's, are we respectful of their opinion's when they are different from our own?  If not we are not teaching them to self govern. Do we really understand why we belong to the political party we have chosen, or do we  belong to it because our parents discussed it at the dinner table.  I would like to challenge you to be aware of the issues, be aware of  how the candidates view the issues and what they plan to do to tackle things like health care, the economy, immigration, education, taxes, and many more. One of the most informative things I have done was look at some of the legislation that past President's have helped pass and compare it to the Constitution. I was shocked at how both sides of the spectrum, left and right have been more concerned about a personal agenda than upholding the constitution. I am worried that to many American's are not educated about that great document. I truly hope to see our children understand it better in the future.  I will do my part as a teacher and hope you do the same as parents.  I like Jon Huntsman, if I vote for him it will be because I agree with his platform not because he is a Mormon, or a billionaire, or because his is religious or spiritual.