Finding political middle ground...

I am a democrat and admittedly, I am quite liberal. I also consider myself a feminist. I am pro-choice and for gay-marriage. I don't often see eye-to-eye with Republican ideals and very rarely am I in agreement with their position on social issues. However, since the election last November, I have become more and more impressed with Meghan McCain. I don't always agree with her and we have significant ideological differences but I admire her nonetheless. She is taking on her own party in a big way - forcing them to address their faults and inconsistencies and she is advocating for change. Most recently McCain posted a blog on The Daily Beast entitled "The GOP Doesn't Understand Sex" in which she addresses Bristol Palin's new abstinence campaign. My opinions on the Palin family would be a different blog but I strongly agree with McCain's argument about the spotlight on teen pregnancy, and teen sexuality in general, that has been created by Bristol's pregnancy, the response of the GOP and the media coverage it has received. In the blog McCain writes, "As a Republican, I am pro-life. But using birth control and having an abortion are not the same at all. Actually, the best way to prevent abortions is to educate people about birth control and make it widely and easily accessible. True, abstinence is the only way to fully prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Still, the problem with abstinence-only education is that it does not make teenagers and young adults more knowledgeable about all the issues they face if or when they have sex—physically and emotionally" I couldn't have said it better. I don't know anyone who thinks that there is a better way to prevent teen pregnancy than abstinence. However, I also teach and work with a number of teens and young adults who aren't planning on abstaining. So, as a society we have two choices - we can pretend that there isn't a problem and hope that it goes away or we can do our best to educate teens and young adults. As part of this education we can create an open dialogue. We can explain why abstinence is the only proven prevention method but encourage them to be safe and give them access to resources. We can talk about love, desire, sexuality, peer pressure and all of the confusing and complicated feelings associated with being a teen. We can encourage them to ask questions and get accurate information. The second seems like a far more intelligent and more effective option. When I was in high school there was an episode of 90210 in which Donna Martin addressed the importance of sex education. I am paraphrasing but essentially she talked about sex education in comparison to having a pool in your backyard. She said that you can tell your kids not to go in the pool without an adult, you can build a fence around the pool and install a lock but if your kids find a way to get into the water, don't you want them to know how to swim? Silly analogy, but the point is well made. We can encourage our kids to abstain from sex, we can talk about how important it is to make good decisions, we can tell them that we will be disappointed in them forever and we can scare them with what ifs and statistics. For some kids, this will work and maybe they won't have sex until they are married, in love and financially prepared. However, for the majority of teens, what does that approach accomplish? The majority will still have sex and I would prefer that they know how to keep themselves safe. I would also hope to have created an open dialogue so that if they had questions or concerns, they would ask - without fear of judgement. Finding political middle ground isn't easy - especially not on emotionally charged topics. However, McCain has done a good job of addressing an important issue and presenting a viable solution.