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“Bottom line: A mom can’t effectively steward her home in the best way possible if she is oblivious to politics and current events.”
–REAGAN ESCUDÉ SCOTT
Being politically informed doesn’t mean keeping up with the latest plans for tax breaks or being in tune with foreign policy or trade negotiation. Although those things are a part of politics, the majority of public policies instituted by lawmakers hit much closer to home. As Andrew Breitbart famously said, “Politics is downstream from culture.”
Politics have an immediate effect on the culture — and “the culture” means you and everything that happens to you (and your family) as a result.
With every election cycle comes a new wave of people who were once apathetic to politics and current events but are suddenly authorities on the subjects because they’ve found their favorite candidate (or, in the most recent case, their least favorite candidate.) Soon after the election is over and a winner has been declared, these same people go back to their TikTok scrolling, celebrity-obsessed, keeping-up-with-the-Jones’s lifestyle, far removed from and oblivious to the policies and news being reported in their state.
But what would happen if biblically minded mothers were politically informed all the time? I’d imagine exit polling and voting demographics would look much different, and there would be an overall shift in the morale of the culture. One group largely impacted by politics, although they may not realize it, is mothers. Whether it’s in their children’s schools, in their local communities, or in their own backyard, the policies put in place by lawmakers have serious influence on their day to day lives.
Unfortunately, however, not all mothers are politically informed, or maybe they just assume they are because they catch the evening news or see the headlines on the news feed of their Facebook page when they have time. That’s not enough. You have to make time and look at different sources from across the spectrum to determine what’s really happening. And you should start as soon as possible because there are some real reasons why mothers should be politically informed, regardless of who is president or what the mommy bloggers are saying.
Although kids can’t understand politics or how the process works, they will feel the consequences of it every single day of their lives. Politics led to school curricula and policies, for example, including whether teachers are highly competent or whether they will fail to teach them to read proficiently, or worse, groom them to adopt sexual degeneracy. During the COVID pandemic, it was politics that led to speech delays and other problems with children’s ability to communicate because COVID politics required children and everyone around them to cover their faces for almost two years. Politics now make it difficult to go anywhere, including the public library, without seeing alphabet mafia propaganda or men in drag. Politics determine whether it’s safe for children to go play outside by themselves without fear of getting hurt by a stranger. Politics is what ultimately encourages the medical system to pump children with pills for their acne or anxiety or depression or confusion about their gender, causing irreversible damage to their bodies. Politics is what allows artificial substances in our food, causing health problems the medical system says are completely normal.
The consequences of politics are unavoidable for children. Who, other than their parents, will protect them?
Given the examples above, the politically uninformed mother might think this is all fear-mongering. If she gets her news from, say, MSNBC, she might believe the curriculum in her child’s school is harmless. She might think the required masking at her preschooler’s daycare was for the child’s own good. She might think her suburban neighborhood with the new housing for illegal migrants going up down the street is as safe as it was 20 years ago, albeit more diverse. She might think all the rainbow propaganda is teaching her child how to love and accept other people and that transgenders and drag queens are no threat to her child. She might think the birth control prescribed to her teenage daughter is perfectly safe and won’t lead to any long-term health impacts down the road. She might believe her kids will be fine to bring Lunchables, fruit snacks, and EasyMac with them for lunch each day. Meanwhile, her children are suffering, and she is completely naive to their pain.
But if a mother is informed, she can protect her kids. She can pull them out of school to homeschool them, refuse to mask, take her kids to play at a park in a safer area, or move to a different neighborhood. She can boycott businesses that don’t represent her values and start making her own food at home. Being informed requires a lifestyle change — but always for the better.
A mom’s job doesn’t stop at protecting her kids: she must also prepare them. Kids need to be prepared to also inform themselves about politics so they can face the outside world and, therefore, be in a better position to protect their own children one day. If a mom is politically informed, she can be one step ahead of the world in terms of what she’s teaching her children.
She can teach them about sex and gender before their teachers have a chance to confuse them. She can teach them skills like gardening, making bread from scratch, and cooking breakfast so they can be self-sufficient in those areas. She can teach them self-defense or what to do when they are approached by a stranger. She can teach her kids about their bodies and how to keep themselves healthy, how to steward themselves well, and how to heal more naturally from illnesses. And most importantly, she can teach them the Gospel, over and over and over again, as it will be what ultimately saves and sanctifies them.
Bottom line: A mom can’t effectively steward her home in the best way possible if she is oblivious to politics and current events. It’s a mom’s responsibility to know what is going on in the world around her children — for how else can she prepare and protect them? How else will she be able to be the mama bear protecting her cubs against the evils of this world?
The Church must be involved in public discourse and influence. That’s why we write — so our readers can be equipped to understand and pursue righteous change in the world. For more timely, informative, and faith-based content, subscribe to the Standing for Freedom Center newsletter.
