Needing to redefine our political vision of family

Catching up on news - and trashy news - yesterday I learned that the father of ex-Governor Sarah Palin's grandson is going to pose for Playgirl.  I don't blame Levi Johnston, like the family of his child, he just wants to ride his moment of fame and possibly get of Alaska by doing so.  I freely admit that I'm a politcal pramatist, leaning heavily to the liberal-side - yet ironically in this season becoming more seasoned by capitalism.

The irony of the whole situation is that here is a political family who based their whole political upswing, and continuing and emerging political machine upon the notion of "going rogue" in the sense of returning to the better days of yore when family meant everything, when we worked hard for what we earned, when America was great.  Curiously enough in those days stereotypically: women didn't work and stayed home, young men wouldn't pose nude in a girlie magazine and America was forward-looking instead of history-fantasizing.


In an age in which we're overwhelmed with problems of historic size, since no one has wanted to touch the multiple third rails in our political spectrum since the 60s: health care, imploding Social Security, environmental melt-downs, an economy increasingly dependent upon foreign oil, tough immigration rules that are pushing bright foreign university students towards universities in Europe and Asia, and a tendency to lock ourselves away from fear instead of engaging the pluralistic world in which we now live.  In that age we seem, at least I do, hear way too often calls to reinforce the notion of family, protect a classic definition of marriage, and keep America for Americans instead of responses - or even mere attempts at responses - to the monolithic problems we face as a nation and a world community.

If we don't wake up and smell the coffee we're going to get caught with our pants down, and it won't be in a no-carb high-workout intentional way like Levi.