On Parenting and Politics
Aug 6th, 2008 by nick
Bob Schaffer, who’s a Republican running for Senate in Colorado, was embarrassed this week by his son’s Facebook page. The page featured, among other failed attempts at humor, a bumper sticker with the text, “Slavery gets sh** done.”
I don’t think that a candidate for office should be judged by the Facebook page of his college-aged son. However, the incident revealed Shafer’s parenting style, which can give some hints as to his leadership style if elected as Senator. Shafer said that, “…he and his wife had set out “firm punishment” for their son, Justin, over the issue.”. That’s it. No mention of an attempt to understand Justin’s reasons for displaying this material, to discuss the issue with him, or, most importantly, to help him understand why the material is offensive. Nope, just an immediate punitive response, ignoring entirely the underlying reason’s for his son’s “juvenile” behavior. I don’t think that this kind of punitive and autocratic leadership is what I want in my Senator.