Other people's kids

As you may have heard, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) has just come out in support of marriage equality and he roots that change of heart completely in the fact that his son is gay.

I’ve thought a great deal about this issue, and like millions of Americans in recent years, I’ve changed my mind on the question of marriage for same-sex couples. As we strive as a nation to form a more perfect union, I believe all of our sons and daughters ought to have the same opportunity to experience the joy and stability of marriage.

While I welcome Sen. Portman to this cause, I can't help but notice that his motivation spells out the very reason we are often so polarized on these issues.

In that vein, I think Teagan Goddard might have authored the tweet-of-the-year:

This is newsworthy, but it wouldn't be if opponents of same-sex marriage thought of other people's kids politicalwire.com/archives/2013/…

— Taegan Goddard (@politicalwire) March 15, 2013

That reminds me of a quote from then-Senator Barack Obama's 2004 speech at the Democratic Convention.

For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people.

If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work.

If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty of why our politics seems so broken these days, perhaps it all comes down to not thinking about "other people's kids" - or what President Obama calls the empathy deficit.

I’m not talking about a budget deficit. I’m not talking about a trade deficit. I’m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.

I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.