Incite Full

Now, I’m not going to take issues with most of the easy fodder here. Lord knows enough people are going address the irony: the party of “family values” can’t keep the daughter “under control”, or whatever. They are making keeping the child, which aligns well with a pro-life stance.

My issues, while they exist, are not the point of this post. The daughter has decided to marry the father of this child, and I can only assume that there is some familial pressure. Alaska requires parental (or guardian approval) for a marriage of any minor to occur. This is a sensible law, although why in this day and age people get married before they are 18 (military, withstanding) is foreign to me. So the daughter will mary and the child will be raised with the full love and support of both kid’s families.

My issue is this: Is this really best for the daughter or the child? Honestly, isn’t this the wrong idea? Having your child wed at 17, when she was unable to make the right decision once, is the best we can do? I’m not taking low shots, it’s just a fact, in my opinion. Teen pregnancy’s are tough, but they are not life ending. Being a single mother is tough, but is not life ending. But what about having the young marriage of two kids who I have to believe have a lot going for them? Is raising this child in the spotlight of political controversy and turmoil really best for the kid?

I feel sorry for everyone involved. This should be a non-issue to be honest, not because it’s a private matter, but because Palin has no business being the VP pick. She should remove herself from the nomination, not because she can hardly hold her family together (low blow, I apologize) but because she has no experience and undermines the only reasonable objection McCain has over Obama. She has been Governor of Alaska for 2 years, and has no international experience. Imagine her in a debate with Biden.

I’m not a fan of either party, as a whole, but this is the kind of decision making that we, as a country, need to get away from. Stupidity like this is only made that much better more expected because we’ve been dealing with it for about 8 years. And that’s not a shot at bush, that’s a shot at everyone.

Regardless of what happens, I feel bad for the daughter, child, and the soon-to-be husband. Give the baby up for adoption, and let the kids live their lives. There are worse things in the world than that, and it allows the child and daughter to go on with their respective futures. But maybe I’m wrong, maybe it is the kids who want the marriage and family. If so, I don’t know what to say. As a parent, I would not want to move forward with the marriage, which I’ve discussed already. Somewhere here there is bad parenting going on, somewhere here there was the chance to make this something better, and I feel that everyone missed out.

Amazingly, Palin supports abstinence only sexual education. What are the odds that this changes between now and November?