The Wisdom Gap: How to Gain Time-Tested Perspective on Today's Political Issues | S6 E23

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This has always been my my soapbox. You're not telling women what they could do with their bodies. They're doing whatever they want to with their bodies, which is why they're pregnant. Yeah. Hello. Welcome to another episode of the family business with the Alessis. And today, I have family in the studio with us in our podcast booth as Mary and I are joined by my mother-in-law, Mary's mommy. My mom. Doctor Faith Frederick. Thank you. Thank you. Everybody in the grand stands are cheering you on. It's so good to have you with us today. It's great to be here. Great to be here. Now, you know, my mom was here. She did something. It was very cool. She's really one of my best friends, if not my best friend. Very good. Well, she was sitting right there, and we were able to talk about some things. And that was very nice. So it's excellent to have you here because, hey, it's family. Amen. Right? It is a family business. And we can tell some good stories about over the years, what a great mother-in-law you have been. Absolutely. It is family. I do remember when we were in Cuba and I introduced you as my mother-in-law, all them all of them started laughing. Remember? Yeah. Yeah. That was so funny. We didn't know there was a joke. Don't understand what the joke is. So somebody somebody could send me the answer to that one. Yeah. There was a lot of Cuban mother-in-law jokes. So Wow. Maybe that's it. Alright. Before we get into our subject today, because, we're gonna go ahead and be talking about some good things, that social socially and culturally, have an impact in our our lives. But before we do that, I want to respond to what the Alessis are asking. And I love this. We threw out a question Yes. At the beginning of the year. Excuse me. And since we're in this election year, we wanted to go ahead and get some response from our audience. So if you had responded to this question, then we're gonna hit you up with some of the generalized and specific, I guess, answers. But the question was, what issue will have the biggest impact on who you will vote for? The Alessis are asking what is you will have the biggest impact on who you will vote for? And since family is everybody's business, you're part of our family, you responded. And some of the responses were were pretty much in line with where we knew our audience is coming from. So Yeah. One of those responses, and this is excellent again. So thank you first for doing this. Alright? Thank you for responding. But we knew this one would come up. Biblical values are going to determine Right. Which candidate you vote for. So do they align up with your biblical values or not? Another one was solving inflation, health care, and jobs, whoever will improve them, which is a good good, deciding factor there. Economy. Come on. We want the economy. Yeah. Social and economic issues was something that was gonna determine. And then, social issues, do they line up with my Christian values? Right. So because we have, pretty much largely a Christian audience that listens to us or at least those who felt comfortable responding to this question to us, Maybe there's others out there that have different biblical beliefs than we do or worldview beliefs, so maybe they didn't feel comfortable responding to us, but we wanna thank those of you who did. And if you don't mind, we're gonna springboard off of your answers in our podcast today. But before we get into that podcast, today's podcast, I wanna do one more thing. I wanna throw another question out there. The Alessis are asking another question. And if you respond, then we're gonna run this up to, like, March 27th. And if you respond, then we're gonna put you in a nice little raffle to see if you win one of our family business with the Alessis coffee mugs. Which are awesome, by the way. They're the perfect size. Yeah. Hot chocolate mugs. Or my mother in law's case, it's whiskey mug. Just kidding here. Babe, she likes Muscotta. Oh. I have but not in a coffee mug. I have water. A question that we need the Alessis asking. What is your favorite? Red, white, or sweet? Oh, boy. Okay. Here's the next question we wanna ask. The Alessis are asking you, listening Podians, here it is. Since social issues were at the top of these responses that's gonna help you determine who you're gonna vote for, then the question is this. What is the most important social issue that is going to influence your vote? What is the most important social issue that is going to influence your vote. Alright? Could it be a woman's right to choose an abortion? Alright? And if you, have listened, to our podcast, then you probably would have heard us talk about that social issue right there. If you haven't, then go back and find it in the archives. Some of the other social issues, the transgender, the the homosexual, influence in our society. Or even in education. If if What's happening there? That right there, if the the trans issue and the homosexual issue Books that you're reading. We've talked about that That's right. On one of our podcasts. Feel free to go back and archive, find in the archives what that one was. And then you mentioned No. That's as of the same when we talk about the transgender issue, what's happening in education. Kids are reading these books as young as elementary. Yeah. And they're pushing that particular agenda on our children very, very young. And we talk about that as well. Immigration is a social issue we're dealing with today. Right. Is that something that is big to you? So that's the question the Alessis are asking. What is the most important social issue influencing your vote? Give us the answer to that, and you're gonna get yourself put in a raffle to where you can find a nice or win a nice family business with the Alessi's mug. It's a good one. It's a good one. Yeah. And let your voice be heard. Let us know what you think. Alright, Mary. Alessi. Yes. Why don't you introduce your mom, and let's tackle some issues in our podcast today. My mom, doctor Faith Frederick is, very, very well, established in this conversation. We sit and talk about politics all the time. And just about the time I think I know something, I sit down with my mom and she quickly lets me know how much more about that subject she knows. Only because I've lived longer. You have lived longer and you love history. You're you're somewhat of a historian hobbyist. You love World War 1, World War 2 history. You have you were talking this morning about your very first election Yes. That you ever voted in. Yes. And so we thought we need to talk about this because you speak so well in regards to the politics, to the politics, to politics in general, and you have a lot of knowledge, but you also have a lot of grace about it, which is terrific to talk about. Good. Because sometimes people can't talk about politics without losing their minds and they've been poisoned on politics. And if we can't discuss it, regardless of who's in the room, just to have a general conversation without our feelings getting involved, something's wrong with us. Right. So let me just say that right off the bat, You have, you've always taught us we can have these conversations and be stand out from them. They don't Right. They're not personal. Right. So let's let's kinda go back to what we were talking in the car just a little bit. This I know this was super intriguing. Your first election that you voted in was what year and who did you vote for? It was 1961, I think. And it was president Eisenhower. Now some young people may say, who is that? Yeah. But Eisenhower was one of the greatest generals. And, basically, not the whole World War was won by him, but his influence. He was the one that led, into Normandy. And he he but he was a very gracious man. He was very quiet. He was a small man. And, I don't know all the particulars of how he, you know, decided to run for the president, but he won. Yeah. And I think that Was it Kennedy? You said that was Kennedy? No. No. It was president Eisenhower. I'm sorry. Before. Yes. Yes. Yes. And, but back then, the word we used was policy. I feel like most people of course, we didn't have social media, But we looked because each party has a platform. Right. And it behooves all of us to look at that platform and see how it lines up with what you believe. Right. And that's the way I've always voted. And that's the way we used to talk. What what is the platform? There was even a day when there was a certain organization would print out the platform of each party and make it available to the churches or to clubs or whomever where people could make a decision based upon that because that platform was decided by certain members of that party who led that party. I think that's a, to me, that's a good, barometer to find out really why why are we feeling the way we're feeling, or why are we sensing what we're sensing, or why are we, entertaining ideas and persuasive voices this particular way? Well, you you come from a generation where the majority of your life when it came to talking about politics, there wasn't the outrage just in the conversation from both sides. You could actually have a political conversation. Yes. And so seeing a newsletter that showed both sides of the aisle was not offensive to anyone. People could literally look at that objectively, but we've become so polarized, which is the dangerous part of politics because we're so embedded in what we say our party believes. And, you know, there's another thing that really has become so clear to me, mom, in the last few years, how we have we have been brainwashed to be group thinkers. And I didn't think that I was susceptible to groupthink, you know, never. I just didn't even understand what that meant. How could you just be a group thinker? You go with the group. No way we were taught. Don't go with the group. But the other day, it dawned on me. I was listening to a there was a subject that was out there and I don't even remember what it was. And I went on social media and my first thought was, let me read the comments about this before I decide what I think. And it stopped me. It's true. And I went It's true. Oh my goodness. I gotta read what other people think to decide what I think? Yeah. No. I don't. That is excellent because I find myself even doing the same thing. It's brainwashing. But sometimes I feel like maybe I'm not miss I'm not understanding, you know, and I so I second guess. I'm not informed enough. But we but we do know instinctively if we have a set of values, we do know. And so this is something we were talking about too. And Steve jump in whenever you always give me permission, just jump in. If I start me and mom start talking and we forget you're here and I don't wanna do that. So we inject the conversation. But even from the perspective of misinformation and disinformation, these have become buzzwords. Well, my generation was where you got the news through the morning newspaper Right. The Miami Herald. That was a mainstay in people's homes. You opened it up. You read the opinions of others. You read the news. You know? And, that was where we got our news, and it wasn't filtered through a lot of misinformation. And misinformation. Yeah. But one case in point, I remember when John Kennedy was running for president, Little did we know what he would face and our nation would face, concerning what we call what was called the Cuban crisis, and it was a crisis. Yeah. So I I just suggest read some history. It's it's fun. It's enthralling to me, and find out the real what was behind that. I think it helps to understand some of the leaders because we can we can do misinformation and injustice to leaders because you can't take a leader and just take them out of that decade or take them out of that scenario and judge them. Right. You have to judge from the whole scenario of what was going on that particular time. But there's one earmark that our nation had that I pray we never lose it, and that was a real conscious awareness of patriotism. Yeah. Everybody was patriotic regardless who the president was, regardless of who was, had the most senators and representative, everything, people rose to the occasion when it came to standing by our nation, and that's a concern to me. Absolutely. Well, Faith, you've been a strong influence in Mary and Mary's life over the years, and so much of what Mary says is you. You know? It's it's hilarious. So I'm thinking, you know, we're talking about certain social issues that, quite frankly, the young people, because they have a loud voice on social media, they seem to be the ones that come to the table, like, with they know it all. They haven't experienced hardly anything. They they don't understand how politics works. So, you know, these hot button issues of today. Alright? They they supposedly are gonna be swaying the election, and they talk about abortion and a woman's right to choose. And it sounds so good to say a woman's right to choose. Yes. And abortion sounds so harsh, and and they so they've played on those those words even and tried to influence a younger generation. How could you not allow a woman to choose? But yet we know the other side of that is how how do you not allow that infant, that child in the womb a right to choose life. So how how do we talk about those issues today and to inform a younger generation that we don't wanna polarize because of our biblical values. But how do we address those hot button issues in a way around the table with our kids that is going to inform them and us not feel like because we're parents, we're, you know, we're older and our hands and our our tied because we don't know anything. How do we address this with this generation? Personally? Yeah. I feel like that if and I'm a person of deep conviction. I have I have my convictions. I believe the Bible when it pertains to that subject. But let's just, for the sake of conversation Yeah. And helping, let's even move that aside just as a human being, as a woman, as say, with my partner or with my husband or whomever, and I find myself pregnant. And it's not the most convenient time. Mhmm. Or it's a surprise. It's a shock. Whatever those voices are saying to you, this can't fit into the scenario that I have for my life. I've already got 2 little ones. What am I gonna do? It scares me at 82 years old to think I would have made a decision when I was in my twenties or in my even in my late teens or whatever the scenario calls for, that would have followed me for the rest of the life, rest of my life. And that is this, because I know so many people that they all had basically raised their family or they had a couple of marriages or whatever. But there again, whatever the scenario, they were told, you're pregnant. You're gonna have a baby. And they later on in years, they say, I'm glad abortion was not available to me. Yes. Because that son turned out to be the child that took care of me in my old age. It's true. That circumstance drove me to God. Yeah. That circumstance brought our family together where when that when that girl found herself pregnant and the circumstances was such, the parents rose up and that child has cemented our family. That the stories are numerous. They're jig we should share those stories about unexpected pregnancies Yeah. And get to know and even people I know people that have had children that had all kind of disabilities and in their mind and so forth. You get around those parents, they'll fight you tooth and toenail for that child. Right? Yeah. That's true. They're not saying, well, you know, it's a burden. No. They're I've known so many of them and you have too. Man, that child, they may go on and have children that have no issues, but the whole family comes around, and that child is special. Yes. Special. So I look at all those scenarios. Let's step back. This blanket approach to where, well, I don't want this child. I'll guarantee you the truth be known. Mhmm. The truth be known, and y'all are in a position to know because you help people, women and men alike. There's some sad folks out there. There's some issues that is is caused our society to deal with we would never have have dealt with for that particular thing. Yeah. We may have had to step up more for, children with more disability, but I know a lot of churches who do that and lots of organizations that do that. So that's my that's my approach. Yeah. Even without saying you know, bringing the Bible into it just from the human. You may be giving birth in that inconvenient pregnancy to that child that's gonna be the answer Yeah. To somebody else's life. Yeah. You know my my challenge is We're talking about a small percentage of people that have abortions, but we're talking about a lot of people that are letting their opinions be heard Yeah. That are not the ones that are having the abortion. Wow. That's right. And they're influencing the young one that then is in a position to have to have an abortion or choose such an option. And it's crazy because Some of them are older. They've already had their family. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're champion. And they're making statements. Many of many of them because maybe early on in there some in let me say some, not many. Some because early on in their life, they had an abortion. And the moment they start thinking about it, the guilt hits them, and they're like, wait a minute. Let me defend myself somehow, make myself feel better, so let me give somebody else permission, or at least to stand on this side of it. It's they promote a woman's right to choose. Yet, you know, we have a you've got a son-in-law, got a brother-in-law, Mary, Mark, who was the victim of a drunk driver. Yes. When he's in college, coming home with his buddies for the weekend, a drunk driver runs a a red light, plows into Mark's side of the car. Mark is blind. Yep. Mark cannot see. Mark doesn't have eyes, and he's got a dog, seeing eye dog. He's got his cane. Mark is blind, and Mark has taken his life. And what he's done is he's turned around and said, I'm gonna help everybody That's right. That has been a victim of a drunk driver. 1st, I'm a speak out against alcohol to the extent where you'd get behind the wheel That's right. Of a car and drive drunk. And then 2, I'm gonna go to hospitals and for the caretakers that took care of me when I was under the knife, and it's good to see and all of that. I'm gonna help them realize who's sitting there on that bed that needs your care. Okay? So he goes in and positions himself to stand up against it. Right. Right? But you you got people that have been the victims of an abortion somewhere in their life. You would think they would stand up and say, guys, this is terrible. It's horrendous. Yeah. But I'm afraid social influence. It's true. Okay? Has made them even, keep themselves from being able to look at their daughters or look at their friend and and and stand up and say to others, either on social media, use their platform to say, guys, there's a better option. Yeah. Don't take that option. It's gonna lead you into the pain. It's like you get in behind the wheel of a car after you've just drunk too much in the bar, and now you're gonna end up hurting someone. You're gonna take another life. You're gonna live. Yeah. But you're gonna take another life because the drunk driver never seems to die. He's the one who flicks his pain what happened. Yes. On others that have to live with their stuff forever. We hear that story more times than than ever. And then the victims of of it are saying, hey. Hey. No. No. No. Don't don't get behind the wheel of a car. Don't don't act this way like Mark has done. How come we don't have more women that are out there in our society today and even young men who may have told a young girl to get an abortion and then sees how messed up that was? How come they're not willing to stand up and say to the young people of our society and our world, guys, don't there's a better option. Well Abortion is not yours. Yeah. And I'll just make this short because I'm interested in what you say. But remember this, we have reached a a a decade or a scenario of time right now to where those that are providing the alternatives providing the alternatives or you're praying in the safe distance from an abortion clinic. They're being arrested. They're being harassed. And the the, clinics that are providing the care, the real women's care and answers for them to give them other alternatives, they're being shut down. And everything. So this is a new scenario. Where does this come from? Yeah. I heard something the other day. Mary, you can help me on this one. I'm actually looking up something, so go ahead. And I thought this was this was excellent reasoning. They were talking about planned parenthood. And they were saying that, you know, people defend planned parenthood because of all the good that planned parenthood does for young women. And yet the majority of what planned parenthood does do is abortions. Right? Or even if it wasn't the majority of what they did. Right? But they're sitting there saying, let's keep funding with American taxpayer dollars, planned parenthood Yeah. Clinics for young girls to go get counseling on whatever it may be. But, also, if they wanna have an abortion, they're gonna be, they're gonna help see that that abortion is done. Oh, they said, okay. Now let's compare it to CBS. If you went into CVS, and I need you, Mary. Yeah. I am. If you went into CVS Yes. I'm here. And CVS, you you're gonna go there because, you got a headache. You're gonna go buy Mhmm. Tylenol from CVS. Mhmm. Or if you sprained your ankle, you're gonna go into CVS and you're gonna wrap up your ankle. Mhmm. If if you go to CVS forgetting those things, that's one thing. But what if you learned that CVS was molesting children at the same time? What would you do? If you found that they were molesting children Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Would we sit there and say, oh, it's okay? Yeah. They really don't they have they they're not molesting too many children. It's that's only a small thing, part of what they do. But but they're over here selling all of this, you know, my feminine hygiene products Right. For the women. And they're giving us Tylenol and they're helping us And they're so convenient. Yeah. It's so convenient. Right? Yeah. It's right there on the corner. I can just go do it. Would we accept that? Or would we say heck no, man, close down CVS. They're molesting children. Yeah. Right. We got this mentality in our world today. Sadly, I mean, Bill Maher the other day even said, listen, call abortion murder, and I'm okay with that. Yeah. He did. He said, call abortion murder. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. That's where society has come. And I saw yesterday on Instagram, there was somebody posted it. They were in a hospital with the the care, and they were taking a 25 week old baby probably that long. No way. And bringing it out of the what do you call it? Incubator? Incubator, and the father was sitting there, and they said this oh, lord. The what the nurse was the nurses were saying, this baby needs to fill its father's touch. Yes. Yes. What they were saying? Skin to skin. Yeah. And they laid that little baby up here, and he of course, it was all bandaged because it had all kind of tubes in it. But the communication that was going on Yeah. And the love, she wants to feel your touch. It was so personal, and I and I ate. Yeah. Ate because we feel in our society, that has become well, dispensable. It's the norm. And I I wanna just say that we did 2 parts, on a podcast, all about abortion, the numbers, the facts. Most women today are using the pill at home. All you have to do is call one phone number and they will send you within a matter of a day, pills that you can take and have your abortion at home. However, the benefits do not outweigh the risks and they're finding that out so we can get deeper into the subject of abortion. My issue, my thinking about those issues, abortion and the the other social issues is when we approach any social issue from the perspective of it's gonna get my vote because it's not my business to judge anybody else. Rather than looking at what it's doing to the world, how is it affecting the fabric of us as a human race? When a Bill Maher can say Yeah. Okay. You know what? I've evolved, and I've I have been, you know, on the left side of saying, okay, it's a COMPASSELS. And now I can't fight that because science has proven. If I'm gonna argue, trust the science with COVID, I gotta I gotta keep that argument, trust the science with males or females, well, then I definitely have to say trust the science. Yeah. Whether it's at a clump of cells or not. I mean, you you it just gets ridiculous. It's absurd at some point. It's totally absurd. So we're chasing this stupid argument. So let's evolve all the way and just go, okay, fine. It's murder. It is what you want it to be. Yep. Because it's alive, so it's murder. But it's none of my business for me to tell other women what they could do with their bodies. We're talking about one thing. This has always been my my soapbox. You're not telling women what they could do with their bodies. They're doing whatever they want to with their bodies, which is why they're pregnant. Yeah. So you have the total authority, right, domain to do anything. You can tat it up. You can cut it if you want to. You can starve it if you want to. You can give it to everybody who asks for a piece. You can give it nobody cares. Do what you want. You can even turn it into a boy. Yeah. Do what you want. Nobody's telling you you can't. Where we're saying and and this is why I wanna take back the Say it. Say it. I wanna take back the mindset that I know a lot of Christians have in our church and a lot of the younger generation of that whole argument over my right to choose. That's the thing that that irritates me because that's the wrong mission statement. It is the wrong mission statement. And what it is leading to, it's a narcissistic mentality. You you don't you said it in the beginning. The long term effects that you're going to have, you have no way of knowing how you're gonna feel 20, 30 years from now and what's going to trigger the fact that you made a mistake. So if you have had an abortion, we're not here to condemn you. We've said this before. You didn't know better. And most women that I talked to, mom, thought it was easier because they believed the lie. I have the right to choose. This is an easy process. I can walk into Planned Parenthood. Turns out, it's created a lot of sickness in women. There's been hey. Let's just be honest with you. There's women that don't regret it at all yet. Yes. Right. They don't regret it yet, but there's still a lot of life to live. You don't know what the future is gonna hold. And we talk about how to lay all that down in other podcasts, and we talk about this and how to move away from it where you're not feeling, you know, constantly condemned by a past situation. Here's my thing. Change your mind moving forward. Change your position about abortion moving forward. Save other women from making an ignorant decision that they're going to regret. Give somebody else the chance to parent a baby. We have it our this is what the this is what our mission does. Is adopted. My older sister is adopted. And her baby, Jordan, was born at what, 22 weeks? Yeah. Yeah. He was just a little tiny. Listen, we could go on and on. And I know we we don't want to. We've touched on these subjects in other podcasts. Make sure you look at them. But, I'm getting hot in here, so let me back off just a little bit. You are. You are Turning red around the neck and getting all excited. So well, listen. There we we hit this issue, and we wanted you here, Faith, because I believe family is the best context to be able to deal with these things in. Oh, yes. Yes. And your generation, you're in your eighties. Yeah. I'm in my sixties. Mary just turned another birthday. You could say it. I'm okay. 56. That have kids that are in their thirties Yeah. And twenties and now grandchildren. Mhmm. They need our voices. They need your voice. They need to be able to hear the the and the and the the the grandparents That's right. To sit around the table and have these conversations and let them hear from the voice of wisdom. Right. And that's what family should be about. Yeah. That's what God told Israel to do. Yeah. You share these stories. Share how you came out of Egypt. Yep. And since I've begun to share, when I turned 80, I've begun to share more of our history, but the history in general of the nation, I find that my older grandchildren, their young adults, are so interested. Grandma, we didn't know we didn't know. Hey. We make you about the Cubans, but we didn't know it was a real crisis. Right. The You know, we We make you sit down and tell stories to our kids. Yeah. And they love the story time that you're Yeah. They record it. They did. It. So all of the podcast today is about that. I want our audience to see and hear. There's something about this older generation that we need. And if we're gonna deal with these social issues today, even as we prepare for another election, we've gotta be hearing from some of the old guards that have gone before us since already fought some battles That's right. And can turn around and tell us how to stay away from getting all beat up and destroyed and killed. So, today, that's what our podcast was about, and I hope you were inspired by what you heard. And thanks again for joining us on the family business with the Alessis, where family is everybody's business. You've just enjoyed another episode of the family business podcast with the Alessis, and we can't thank you enough for being a part of our podience today. Now that you've learned more about us, here's how you can join in in the family business. 1st, make sure you're following our podcast right now, and download this episode so you can hear it at any time. 2nd, think of someone you know that might need or enjoy this episode and share it with them. 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