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Who Says One Person (or two) Can’t Make A Difference

by SJ Reidhead at 08:22PM (MDT) on May 21, 2008 | Permanent Link | Cosmos

THE POWER OF THE BLOG

The NYTimes has mentioned Sarah Palin as potential VP pick for McCain.

Let me begin by stating that the governor of Alaska is going to challenge the polar bear ruling.

My cynical father always says that one person can’t make much of a difference in the world. He also has this theory that politics are so crooked one person can’t make much of a difference. Well, my father is wrong (for once)! Two men, Adam Brikley and Steve Maloney have made a difference in the world. Both

Adam Brickley, founded Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President He was soon joined by Steve Maloney,

(Steve Maloney, GOP) and Campaign2008VictoryA contacted me sometime last summer. He wanted to know if I was interested in supporting Sarah Palin. I checked her out and was quite impressed. My first mention of Palin in The Pink Flamingo appears to be on the 19th of August. I did a Blog Critics piece that came out on the 17th.

At that time, very few people knew who she was. Now, though, she has reached the finals in the CQPolitics McCain VP Watch! Tomorrow we will know if it’s Palin or Huckabee. Rumor has it that Huckabee supporters are stuffing the ballot box. That’s okay. It’s the fact that, thinks to Adam Brickley and Steve Maloney, Sarah Palin is very close to becoming a household name. When you stop and think about it, the feat is bordering on bloody remarkable!

We all know someone as talented as Sarah Palin would eventually reach super-star political status, but let’s be honest, the primary reason she is being propelled into that status sooner than expected is because of the efforts of two bloggers.

CHOSING LIFE
The Canadian view of Sarah Palin and her courageous decision to bring a Downs baby into the world. It points to one fact – she did the right thing and she is in the running to be VP.

“…The Alaska governor who has been named as a possible running mate for John McCain is making headlines for her personal choice not to end her pregnancy. Gov. Sarah Palin has just revealed her month-old baby was born with Down syndrome, a genetic condtions that impedes a child’s physical, intellectual and language development.  Warned early on through testing, Palin chose to wait until after delivering the 6lb 2 oz baby boy before speaking out. With four children at home already, a child with Down syndrome would present serious challenges, but she said in a statement she felt “privileged that God would entrust us with this gift.”  It’s clear where she stands. She is praised by the “pro life” movement, with activists asking God to “give America more women like her.” It’s not the first time parents of the disabled have spoken out about the joy their children have brought into their lives. The parents with special needs children I’ve met can only be described as saints, but to paint all those who ended the pregnancy as cruel and irresponsible is unfair. Of those I’ve gotten to know there is a common confession: If they had to do it over again, many would consider ending the pregnancy. Not due to the burden, but for the sake of the child’s future. Using abortion as birth control is deplorable. Ending a pregnancy to relieve the family of “a burden” is debateable, but I’m not willing to judge a couple who consider abortion to spare the child suffering after they are gone. Most parents equip their children with the tools to take care of themselves once they leave the nest. Children with special needs have just that — special needs that require care, often for life. With their child denied the ability to learn how to take care of themselves, their parents live a life of not only devotion to their child’s every needs, but also of fear about who will care for them long term….”

From the National Catholic Register

“…You may remember from a few weeks ago, Obama’s answer to a question at a town hall meeting regarding HIV and STDs: He said, “Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby” He sees such a surprise baby as punishment for wrongdoing rather than the natural result of a bad decision to engage in sex. In the Illinois Legislature in 2002, Obama voted against a bill to require life-sustaining measures for babies who survive late-term abortions and are born alive “accidentally.” Then, in 2003, he killed this measure in the Illinois Senate Health committee he chaired. His perspective on these “surprise” children: “What we are doing here is to create one more burden on a woman, and I can’t support that,” said Obama in 2003.

That’s a living human being he would allow to die because he judges it to be an expendable annoyance. For him again, the unexpected born baby is a punishment and burden …contrast the perspective of baby-as-expendable-burden and punishment with the rarely repeated story of John and Cindy McCain’s “surprise” child.

Sen. McCain told me this story of their family, and, on another occasion, Cindy McCain related it. Both times I heard the story — each from the father’s and mother’s perspective — I found it beautiful and revealing.

Cindy McCain, traveling in Bangladesh, had promised a Catholic friend she would visit Mother Teresa’s orphanage there. After her tour, two nuns whom Cindy laughingly describes as “sweet and tenacious” brought two children to her. They explained that both babies would die (one suffered from malnutrition issues, the other from severe cleft palate) unless brought to the United States. Cindy said Yes to their pleas on behalf of the children. She then engaged in a battle with local officials to allow her to take the babies out of the orphanage.

As a woman operating in Bangladesh’s culture, she was at a disadvantage, and so had to take on a tough role — one the town elders had not yet experienced. Cindy won. She brought the babies back home, presenting one to her husband: “John, here’s your new baby.”

In a way that defies his tough, military persona, he describes the “extreme privilege” of receiving his new daughter — surprise or not. They found a home for the other baby with their own close friends. The McCains’ immediate and generous Yes to taking responsibility for two children in an incredibly inconvenient circumstance is revealing — and inspiring. It is much like the response of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who recently gave birth to her fifth child — a child born premature with Down syndrome.
Palin and her husband also embraced the surprise: “We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives.”

Pope Benedict’s words at the first Mass of his pontificate (which President Bush repeated during his visit at the White House) put the value of the “surprise” child in context: “Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”…”

Dime con quien andas y te digo quien eres.

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