The question posed in the title of this article is like the one our mothers asked us when we did something impulsively with bad consequences. “What were you thinking?” We never had an answer because the truth was that we had not thought about it before doing the deed.
Thinking about today’s politics, we ask Vice Presidential Candidate J. D. Vance that question. Some of his comments indicate one of two things: either he was not thinking, or he said exactly what he believes.
A resurfaced audio recording of Vance speaking at a Christian conservative forum during his Ohio U.S. Senate campaign is a case in point.
These are the words of J. D. Vance, as he directed his accusations at Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers: “So many on the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children (msn.com/en-us/news/ other/jd-vance-caught-trashingchildless- teachers-in-newly-unearthed- audio).
Vance labeled women without children, including Kamala Harris, “cat ladies who want to make the rest of the country miserable.” In his interview with Tucker Carlson on FOX news, he further said such women have “no direct stake in America” (msn).
We should take claims very seriously made by a man who hopes to become the Vice President of the United States and only a heartbeat from being President. Are Vance’s values consistent with what most Americans believe?
Mrs. Pearl Carr was undoubtedly the best teacher Henry ever had, and she taught him when he was a first-grade student in 1943. Comparing all his teachers through his graduate school classes, he would still rate her as the best.
Her class size was usually more than thirty-five students, many of whom were children of migrant Hispanic parents. She taught her students how to read and do math problems. She also taught the Spanish- speaking children how to speak English, all by herself with no assistant.
Mrs. Carr was childless.
Throughout our education, as with most others, we had childless teachers. They did not brainwash us. They taught us the curriculum and the social skills we needed to be successful adults, the same as did those teachers with children.
We should notice that Mr. Vance did not mention childless men teachers. It seems only childless women seem to be visible on his misogynistic, myopic, and puerile radar screen.
J. D. Vance’s Senatorial colleague, Republican Lindsey Graham,
is childless, as are some other legislators.
Senator Vance is Catholic, and his wife is Hindu. He said recently on a news program that his three children attend a parochial school, where they are taught by nuns. Going out on a limb here, we’d guess that their teachers are childless.
Henry’s undergraduate degree is Teacher Education. Most of the other teacher graduates were young and childless. Would Mr. Vance forbid them from teaching until later, when they would have children? We must infer from his statements that that would be his preference.
Senator Vance said this about Vice President Harris when discussing an incident at Arlington Cemetery: “She can go to hell” (cbsnews. com/jd-vance-kamala-hariscan- go-to-hell-afghanistan-arlington- cemetery/). Vance attempted to blame V. P. Harris for the deaths of the U.S. soldiers killed by a suicide bomber during the Afghan withdrawal at Kabul Airbase. One-hundred-sixtynine Afghan civilians also died in that tragic event.
What was J. D. Vance thinking? Do his lengthy and unapologetic tirades against childless women reveal that yes, he was thinking?
Our words reveal our innermost feelings.
Shouldn’t a candidate for Vice President of the United States weigh his words more carefully? If elected, he would be representing our nation before the whole world.