“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.” Albert Einstein
When I came across this well-known quote by Albert Einstein recently, it struck me that most of us pick our political candidates based on what we perceive as our “common sense.” My common sense, if Albert is right, was formed as the daughter of a fighter pilot during the 50’s and the 60’s. I was witness to the collateral damage inflicted on a military family by the wages of war. From Korea to Vietnam, my father’s career as a warrior was the central fact of our life and all else was secondary.
My early prejudices against war came about from my sense that anything that took my father from me was a bad thing.
Many of my relatives grew up with their lives intact. Their fathers were home each night. They didn’t have to watch their stoic young mother wait by the phone for a call that often never came. They didn’t habitually watch the chaplain make his way down the street in front of the quarters, holding their breath to see which house he would approach with his sad but predictable news. Yet these are the very people who today are still supporting Bush’s war in Iraq. Were their prejudices the result of pain-free entitlement?
One has to ask how each of our candidates acquired their “common sense." All of them grew up in very different circumstances from one another, and all have had considerably different experiences as adults. They are each the sum of where they came from and what they have done. As a voter I believe my job is to support the candidate that will have the sense to lead the United States away from our current imperialistic path and back to a constitutional democracy where the welfare of the people is placed ahead of corporate desire for global domination.
-Citizen Voices blogger Candace Suerstedt is a filmmaker and a mother of three who lives in Coronado.
Ariana from San Diego
February 22, 2008 at 08:14 PM
In a world where "common sense ain't so common"
I hope that it will prevail.
