Simpson Column: What’s the matter with family values?
Published: September 4, 2009
The race for governor of Virginia has heated up this week. For those who are just hearing about the ruckus — a 1989 Thesis by Bob McDonnell has made its way into the debate and it contains some
statements that the Creigh Deeds campaign has latched onto like a snapping turtle.
Alfred Biddlecomb pointed out in his column on Wednesday a couple of the statements that have caused most of the uproar. For instance, the thesis is said to include an assertion regarding
the “dynamic new trend of working women and feminists that is ultimately detrimental to the family.” I have not had enough time to read the thesis, so I am referencing the quoted statement as a fact.
While I am in no way tied to the McDonnell campaign, nor do I speak for his campaign, I do happen to believe and support this view.
I was raised by two loving parents. My Dad was a lifetime firefighter. My Mom, for a large part of her life, between my birth and when I entered high school, was a stay at home mom — a.k.a. housewife.
The term housewife has been all but removed from the American lexicon as collectivists consider it derogatory and degrading.
The nurturing and direction I received from a parent who was with me through my formative years allowed me to grow up and become a well balanced, productive member of society. In a column a couple
years back I pointed out that, as children, we would be playing ball in the street and a car would turn the corner … we would all yell “car”, grab our stuff, and run off the side of the road. These days the
kids are belligerent and stay on the road — essentially daring drivers to hit them. I know this seems trivial, but the fact is we are now starting to experience a society built by people who had no guidance
and nurturing while they grew up. And I will wager it isn’t going to get better any time soon.
I wouldn’t trade being raised by a stay-at-home parent for all the tea in China. Call me a cretin, and there are many who will, but I also believe that the best person to do that is a Mom. If necessary I think
a Dad should be at home — over no parent at all — but women are better at this because they (usually) have more of an instinct for it. Yes, I firmly believe that there is something deep down inside that
makes a Mom a better caregiver than a Dad when it comes to raising children.
From the sound of it, the McDonnell campaign is distancing itself from the thesis by indicating that it was 20 years ago. John Merli pointed out in his column on Thursday that “One of the convenient
blessings of the digital age is that if you happen to be a writer — or have written anything on any topic that others had access to — then the chances of it being retrievable via the Internet are extremely
good.”
I have changed my position on issues many times over the past 20 years. At times I have voted Democratic and belonged to organizations like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace. At other times I have voted
Republican and belonged to organizations like the John Birch Society. Even earlier, I helped stuff envelops for the Reagan campaign. Most recently I ran for office as a Libertarian Party candidate.
Imagine the fun that opponents would have if I ever decide to run for office again!
Mr. Biddlecomb also inquires: “The thesis revelation put McDonnell on the defensive this week as he initially brushed off the 1989 paper as a simple “academic exercise.” If that were true, then are we to
believe that he was simply saying in his thesis what Regent University founder Pat Robertson wanted to hear?”
I wonder what may be in some of my papers from twenty years ago. When I first started attending college I wrote what I personally thought … falsely believing that professors were enlightened and would
grade based upon the objective evaluation of my submissions. I soon learned that that is not how the game is played. Those who want good grades know that you provide the professor exactly what they
want to hear — nothing more nothing less. When I switched tactics, my grades improved. Of course I was writing opinions that I completely disagreed with, but the objective was to pass … and with the
highest grades I could obtain.
James Simpson lives in Lake Ridge. His Web site is http://www.OpinionColumnist.com.
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Reader Reactions
My question is does Jimmy get paid for re-running a column he cribbed from the 1950’s?
I love this idea that the world would be a better place if women stayed home to raise their children. Some woman stayed home to raise Mr. Simpson and look what happened.
Mr. Simpson:
May I suggest you Google on “gore florida presidential vote” and make a selection from the hits, such as Wikipedia. Keeps me from having to extract info..
As I said, this particular Simpson product is a “target-rich environment,“ so much so that a sensible person finds himself challenged to find a place to begin. One is almost stunned by the sheer quantity of the myriad points of stupidity. Of course James Simpson did not read McDonnell’s “thesis,“ for he is obviously not a reader. The important point to remember is that Simpson “just happens” to be in agreement with McDonnell because McDonnell “just happens” to be a Republican, which is what Simpson wants to be deep-down. The trouble is: the Republican Party, in all its craziness, would want nothing to do with James Simpson. They would take one look at him and put him in the back room stuffing envelopes. He is not “candidate material,“ or even door-to-door canvasser material. Maybe this is why he calls himself a “libertarian” and has invented his own political party-of-one online….
I can’t really say that I have read McDonnell’s thesis, either, but I did take a look at it and read its introduction (flag, mother, apple pie stuff) and the more interesting conclusion where McDonnell lists his suggestions for a sort of “affirmative action” program to use the power of the Federal Government to promote or purge individuals and families along political and ideological lines. My question for the confused mind of James Simpson is: how does this square with “libertarian” or even American values? Well, they don’t. But the Bush Administration in the form of Monica Goodling, also from Regent “University (sic),“ had no trouble using her office to purge the Justice Department of any applicant not ideologically pure enough.
Mr. Simpson, did it ever occur to you that those kids in the street are trying to block your van for good reason, that they know you and don’t like you, and that their parents, in line with “family values” and “good parenting,“ have WARNED them to avoid you?
Al Mostonest
“ I have not had enough time to read the thesis”
So you haven’t read the thesis, but you’re defending it anyway. Good job. Perhaps if you actually READ the thesis, you’d be able to more accurately defend it. Or at least, not sound like a fool when you write a column defending it.
“Of course I was writing opinions that I completely disagreed with, but the objective was to pass … and with the
highest grades I could obtain.“
SO you admit you graduated from college by writing papers with positions you did not agree with - but would get you good grades. Now, you expect us to believe you actually believe the trash you write in this column, because?
“allowed me to grow up and become a well balanced, productive member of society.“
I would disagree with this statement.
Mr. Simpson has many good qualities about him and one is he tells it how he sees it and it’s the truth.
Many people have changed their thoughts over the 20/30 years that we were involved in our community.
Yes, we are lacking the stay at home Mom.Thats why things are like they are today.But it doesn’t have to be,as single moms and 2 parents working I see good examples around me,that are doing a fantastic job with their families.
It is true in some Colleges/Universities, that one has to be aware of what the Professor wants. If you don’t figure it out fairly soon you end up with BAD GRADES.So one is forced to PLAY THE GAME,and give them what they want.
It’s the facts people.
“These people did not reply to tyranny by throwing stones. Our government is currently diving headlong into financial ruin. You can’t just magically produce trillions of dollars and not have significant repercussions. You can’t have the government take over huge parts of the private sector and not have significant repercussions. It will not be long before our government turns oppressive.” – James Simpson, July 4, 2009
Somewhere in Northern Bozoland, nowhere near Planet Earth or within its gravitational pull, as Candidate James Simpson is taking reporters’ questions in his desperate campaign to be elected dog catcher….
“Mr. Simpson. Al Mostonest, here, from the Outerspace Gazette. Thank you for taking my questions. Many years ago, you wrote a column supporting the notion that it was justifiable to violently overthrow a freely-elected government simply on the basis that you were opposed to the policies of its administration. How does that opinion square with the fact that you are now asking for our citizens’ votes in a free election? As you have never explained this strange idea, would you now care to explain it, defend it, or repudiate it?”
Back to reality… I think that many people would question Mr. Simpson’s delusion that his mother raised a “well-balanced,” or “productive,” or “member of society.” I don’t know what kind of college James Simpson attended, but I can sympathize with any teacher trying to keep him on task, understand his ideas, or basically teach him to write. It has been my experience that good schools and good teachers have no problem dealing with opposing opinions or different ideologies. But that being said, most good schools and good teachers focus on teaching facts, concepts, and higher-learning skills, not mere opinions, whether left or right. I will try to limit my comments to what I have just said, as this particular Simpson column is what they call, in the military, a “target-rich environment.”
Al Mostonest, Keeping It Real For the Delusional
Advocator,
I was unaware that one of the employees of the News & Messenger was a blogger on liberal issues. Do you know who it is?
Thanks,
Jim Simpson
Opinion Columnist
Even if he were not writing to “please the professor,“ his point that the thesis was “an academic exercise” should be respected. Students, regardless of age, experience, and political affiliation, should be free to espouse a theme in a thesis and defend it, without fear of retribution twenty years later by the “gotcha” crowd. The use of this tactic by left wing fascists stifles the free exchange of ideas. Teddy Kennedy used it against Robert Bork. Right here in Prince William County we have a coven of blogsters adept at that tactic, one of whom is even an employee of this fishwrap.
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