All to often, political discourse ends where it begins with no resolution and no mind’s changed. At its worse, political debate drives pundits farther away from the center and farther away from mutual understanding. That is why many believe that politics and family should never mix. Uncle Vs. Nephew is our attempt to challenge that idea. Family, at its best, is respectful and produces a certain understanding between individuals that’s almost non-existence in political debate today. And while politics and religion are normally avoided at most dinner tables, some people just can’t help themselves
It all started a few years before the site was created when Nephew (Dennis Marrero) was invited by his girlfriend Christina to a family dinner. Her Uncle (Craig Childs) was in town visiting from Texas and rumor had it that he was quite the conservative. Dennis received fair warning of this before the meal and was advised that the subject of politics should be avoided at all costs that evening. When the night was finally drawing to a close, however, Craig opened the proverbial can of worms: “I hear you studied political science. I’d love to talk to you about it sometime.”
Name: Craig Childs
Birth Year: 1952
State: Texas
Ethnicity: Texan
Occupation: Pathologist
Public Servants I admire most: Adlai Stevenson, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Patrick Moynihan, Ronald Reagan.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1951, I was raised in a very conservative household. My father was a physician and a WWII vet who felt that at the end of the war we should have kept going east until we got to Moscow. The politics were conservative, staunchly anticommunist (but just to the left of the John Birch Society), and we went deer hunting in the Texas Hill country every thanksgiving, near where my wife Ruth and I live today. Ruth and I have a daughter whom we adore and admire.My political maturity began to emerge in high school- while I was a member of the Young Republicans, my closest friends were liberal who have had a life long impact on my thinking. The election of 1968 remains a milestone, though at the time its significance was lost on me.For me the Boomer generation is defined culturally by the Bomb and Viet Nam. Thanks to the Cold War, we do not know a peacetime America, always living under the threat of existential destruction at a moment’s notice. That hasn’t changed even today. I see the wars in the Middle East today as a continuation of a 100 year’s war that began in 1914.Raised in an affluent household, my exposure to poverty and race in America has been as an outsider. These exposures however are not insignificant: my internship at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, my time with the Indian Health Service on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, and numerous mission trips in the American Southwest and Mexico.
Spiritually I am Christian, fully Trinitarian (see Nicene Creed for details), of the Protestant reform tradition, and a member of the Presbyterian Church USA. My faith informs my life, my relationships and my beliefs. As a bit of a Calvinist and a student of the book of Ecclesiastes, I have a radical view of grace: Nothing done in my life by my efforts alone has produced anything of real value. Everything in my life that is good, of which there is an abundance, is is a gift, unearned and undeserved.
As to the upcoming 2012 election, I will support the party that stands for a strong national defense, a free market economy, personal liberty, and economic justice. Right now I do not see either meeting these criteria. But choose we must, even if the we have to choose between two un-Godly alternatives. The questions raised are straightforward: what is a strong national defense, how “free” the economy should be, exactly which inalienable rights do I mean, and what economic injustices concern me.
Name: Dennis Marrero
Birth Year: 1983
State: New Jersey
Ethnicity: Puerto Rican
Occupation: Web Developer / Strategist
Public Servants I admire most: Bernie Sanders, Ernesto Che Guevara, Jon Stewart, Matt Taibbi, John F. Kennedy, Pat Tillman.
I was born in Bayonne, NJ in 1983. My father was raised in Puerto Rico and my mother spent her childhood in both Puerto Rico and New York City. Although they held certain beliefs about government in general, I don’t recall politics being an issue growing up. However, my family, my father in particular, had a strong impact on my political beliefs today. He came to the States after being released from the US Army in the 70s. Speaking english as a second language, he worked to make ends meet in a variety of fields finally landing with the Jersey City police department, where he stayed until retirement. He came from a poor home and had a hard life but he prevailed. He found the “American Dream”. As for me, I reaped the rewards of his effort. Raised in Sussex County, a conservative rural town in Northwest Jersey, I had access to great public education and was fortunate enough to live in a happy home bordering the Appalachian’s New Jersey ridge. With close cousins living in the Bronx, one in particular who was a very instrumental figure in my life, I got to experience the best of both worlds. The city had music, culture, art and life and the country had peace.
Although I now love both worlds immensely, I did feel out of place growing up in Sussex, and it eventually led to my current political beliefs. I wrote for the High School newspaper (High Point Regional – Go Wildcats!) and upset fellow classmates regularly with editorials ranging from why the confederate flag was a symbol of hate to pleas for some death row inmate’s retrial. To be honest, my young ideas, at the time, were based mostly on Rage Against the Machine lyrics, but nevertheless, this time set the stage for my present day convictions. Majoring in Political Science and Journalism in college, I became enamored with political theory, the 24-hour news cycle and progressive movements.
Spiritually, I would be considered atheist or agnostic, although this is constantly evolving, as I believe it should. I was raised catholic and considered myself a practicing christian throughout college, but I no longer identify with any specific religion. The teachings of Christ and the Buddha resonate deeply with me, and I respect all religious beliefs founded in love.
Today, my progressive ideas and big mouth get me into trouble on occasion, but that hasn’t prevented some great conversation. I am also hopeful for the future, no matter how bleak the outlook seems. I realize that the “American Dream” my father lived no longer exists for my generation, but we still have the power to change the future of this country.
We can create a new dream.