By Bill McCamley
The holiday season is a period to reflect and to enjoy some time with our families and friends. So it’s good time to talk a little bit about family values. What do you think of when you hear that term? All too often, it has been defined by a very narrow set of issues and by one political party.
Whatever your political leanings, when you’re sitting down with your family members for a holiday meal after church, or synagogue, or mosque, take a look at them and ask yourself whether you’ve ever worried about what would happen if someone you love got really sick. Would they get the health care they need? Would you able to pay for it? What would you have to sacrifice to afford it? How much stress would it cause for your family?
Although people don’t often think about it this way, taking care of a loved one’s wellbeing is a family value, because when someone has a serious physical problem, it affects the whole family. When that problem destroys a family’s finances, it affects the whole family. When someone doesn’t get the mental health care he or she needs, it affects the whole family. If these things don’t make health care a family value, I don’t know what would. So when politicians talk about family values, don’t you think they should be doing something to make sure people can get the health care they need?
You know what else is a family value? Education. Without a good education, it is difficult to get a job with a high enough salary to pay the bills and support a family. Education is the ability to take care of our future. In our nation, we are falling behind other industrialized countries in the areas of math and science. Furthermore, in our zeal for providing basic skills, we also sometimes leave out important lessons in the arts, history and civics.
The best holiday gift we can give to our children is the ability to learn what they need to compete for a good job, as well as the ability to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings. So when people in government talk about family values, don’t you think they should be doing something to make sure our children can compete in the world around them?
Here is another family value that often gets left out of the discussion: fiscal responsibility. Surprised? Don’t believe that government debt and deficits are a family value? Think about it this way: You overdo it on your credit card year after year. Eventually, there is no way you can pay it back. When you die, your children have the responsibility to pay off that debt, or else they can’t get the services they need to live a meaningful, comfortable life. You would never do that your children, right?
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Politicians try, sometimes, to use the term “family values” simply to get your vote. After all, who could possibly be against “family values?” Well, I ask that you think about some of the values about which they refer, and consider whether they actually affect you and your family members in your everyday lives. I ask you to think about the values I’ve just mentioned and how they affect your family. Let’s all take a little time this holiday season to reflect on what’s really important for our families, and how we can work together to make our lives better in the new year.
McCamley is a Democrat and a member of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners.