The natural question is how do we, the ones in the middle, vote when most choices are politician's motivated by campaign financing that only favor the more extreme right and left agendas?
This is another opportunity to bring up proportional representation. In addition to thwarting gerrymandering, it gives smaller parties a much, much better shot at success. A party with statewide %20 support loses in every single-member district, but in a 5 (multi-)member district, electing one representative is within reach.
I took the 16 question quiz - Liberal Arts Leftie. I know it's accurate as to where on the political spectrum I land; however, it thought I was young and urban when in fact I am old and rural and retired military. It's also incredibly ironic that it is the department of defense and the individual military services that have rules for spanking.
It is no surprise that having worked within non-traditional male-dominated environments that I would 1) want rules that don't allow for discrimination based on sex or gender or identity or any other quality other than merit. 2) Active Global leadership in the world. It's 10 years of “How do you like what Trump's done now? levels of petty malicious destruction.” Trust between Americans and with180+ countries will take decades to rebuild. 3) Duty to take in refugees because other than native Americans all of us are refugees and along with regular immigration increases our population to replace the tanking of the birthrate by American women who are not going backward to be brood Mares.
DOD and Military rules regarding child punishments including spanking are regulated as to time and place.
“According to official policy from the Department of Defense (DoD) and individual service branches, the Family Advocacy Program (FAP) defines the line between lawful parental discipline and child maltreatment based on the severity of the act and the risk of injury.
Official DoD and service-level Family Advocacy Program (FAP) guidelines state:
1. Zero Tolerance in DoD Child Development ProgramsPer DoD Instruction 6060.02 (Child Development Programs), the Department of Defense enforces an absolute ban on corporal punishment within its official programs. Staff members, teachers, and caregivers do not use corporal punishment or negative discipline methods that hurt, humiliate, or frighten children under any circumstances.
2. The FAP Definition of Child Maltreatment
For parents disciplining their children within their own households, DoD Instruction 6400.01 (Family Advocacy Program) outlines the enterprise-wide framework for identifying, reporting, and assessing child abuse and neglect.
Under FAP rules, an act of physical discipline crosses into child maltreatment when it results in, or poses a substantial risk of, physical injury or severe emotional distress.
Allowed Force (Parental Discipline): Standard FAP assessment guidelines recognize a parent's right to utilize minor, non-injurious physical correction (such as open-handed spanking that causes only temporary redness and transient pain).
Prohibited Force (Maltreatment): FAP intervention is triggered immediately if the physical discipline results in bruises, welts, cuts, burns, or if the force is applied to vulnerable areas such as the face, head, or neck.
Individual service branches manage cases through an Incident Determination Committee (IDC) or a specialized Multidisciplinary Team. For example, local installation regulations (such as those governing Army Family Advocacy Programs) dictate how allegations of excessive discipline are handled:
The "Reasonableness" Test: The FAP reviews instances of heavy discipline against a standard of objective reasonableness based on the child's age, size, and the nature of the misbehavior.
Mandatory Reporting Policy: All military personnel, medical providers, and installation employees are required by DoD policy to immediately report any disciplinary act that leaves physical marks to the local FAP Report Point of Contact (RPOC).
Command & Clinical Intervention: If the FAP determines an incident meets the criteria for abuse, the command is notified for potential disciplinary or administrative action. Concurrently, FAP connects the family to positive parenting education and counseling via programs like the New Parent Support Program to replace corporal methods with non-physical discipline.”
Nothing really new here. We've always known that people view political parties as general groupings, and that almost everyone is not purely on one side or the other. The issue for Dems is, how can they attract those who are in the middle, while still being true to party principles. And that starts with defining those principles. Yet, incredibly, the current Democratic Party's Platform has not been updated from the 2024 version, complete with references to President Biden (see https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf). Yes, this is the usual order of things - not to update the Dem platform except during a presidential campaign season. And in fact that is in the Dem Party charter. Yet, a member of the public who would actually like to consider voting for a Dem during the mid-term is limited to what the candidate states during the campaign, and has little idea of how the party itself feels about current important issues too new for the previous platform (e.g., the war in Iran, the war in Ukraine, the economy, AI, Israel, U.S. international relations, the emerging oligarchy, etc.). The rebubs just had a "convention" in Dallas. It didn't involve updating its platform, but that would be highly unusual since their dear leader is still in power. Considering how important this mid-term election is, the Dems should have held a convention and updated their charter and platform. But even that aside, the Dem party leadership should have figured out a way to better inform the public about how current party leadership views the most important issues of the day. That's the kind of communication strategy that would at least have a chance to attract the kind of potential voters this article notes are out there.
The natural question is how do we, the ones in the middle, vote when most choices are politician's motivated by campaign financing that only favor the more extreme right and left agendas?
I came down as Center Square and reading the description of this segment is totally not me. So many of the questions left me thinking “it depends”.
This is another opportunity to bring up proportional representation. In addition to thwarting gerrymandering, it gives smaller parties a much, much better shot at success. A party with statewide %20 support loses in every single-member district, but in a 5 (multi-)member district, electing one representative is within reach.
I took the 16 question quiz - Liberal Arts Leftie. I know it's accurate as to where on the political spectrum I land; however, it thought I was young and urban when in fact I am old and rural and retired military. It's also incredibly ironic that it is the department of defense and the individual military services that have rules for spanking.
It is no surprise that having worked within non-traditional male-dominated environments that I would 1) want rules that don't allow for discrimination based on sex or gender or identity or any other quality other than merit. 2) Active Global leadership in the world. It's 10 years of “How do you like what Trump's done now? levels of petty malicious destruction.” Trust between Americans and with180+ countries will take decades to rebuild. 3) Duty to take in refugees because other than native Americans all of us are refugees and along with regular immigration increases our population to replace the tanking of the birthrate by American women who are not going backward to be brood Mares.
DOD and Military rules regarding child punishments including spanking are regulated as to time and place.
“According to official policy from the Department of Defense (DoD) and individual service branches, the Family Advocacy Program (FAP) defines the line between lawful parental discipline and child maltreatment based on the severity of the act and the risk of injury.
Official DoD and service-level Family Advocacy Program (FAP) guidelines state:
1. Zero Tolerance in DoD Child Development ProgramsPer DoD Instruction 6060.02 (Child Development Programs), the Department of Defense enforces an absolute ban on corporal punishment within its official programs. Staff members, teachers, and caregivers do not use corporal punishment or negative discipline methods that hurt, humiliate, or frighten children under any circumstances.
2. The FAP Definition of Child Maltreatment
For parents disciplining their children within their own households, DoD Instruction 6400.01 (Family Advocacy Program) outlines the enterprise-wide framework for identifying, reporting, and assessing child abuse and neglect.
Under FAP rules, an act of physical discipline crosses into child maltreatment when it results in, or poses a substantial risk of, physical injury or severe emotional distress.
Allowed Force (Parental Discipline): Standard FAP assessment guidelines recognize a parent's right to utilize minor, non-injurious physical correction (such as open-handed spanking that causes only temporary redness and transient pain).
Prohibited Force (Maltreatment): FAP intervention is triggered immediately if the physical discipline results in bruises, welts, cuts, burns, or if the force is applied to vulnerable areas such as the face, head, or neck.
3. Service-Specific Implementation (Incident Determination)
Individual service branches manage cases through an Incident Determination Committee (IDC) or a specialized Multidisciplinary Team. For example, local installation regulations (such as those governing Army Family Advocacy Programs) dictate how allegations of excessive discipline are handled:
The "Reasonableness" Test: The FAP reviews instances of heavy discipline against a standard of objective reasonableness based on the child's age, size, and the nature of the misbehavior.
Mandatory Reporting Policy: All military personnel, medical providers, and installation employees are required by DoD policy to immediately report any disciplinary act that leaves physical marks to the local FAP Report Point of Contact (RPOC).
Command & Clinical Intervention: If the FAP determines an incident meets the criteria for abuse, the command is notified for potential disciplinary or administrative action. Concurrently, FAP connects the family to positive parenting education and counseling via programs like the New Parent Support Program to replace corporal methods with non-physical discipline.”
Nothing really new here. We've always known that people view political parties as general groupings, and that almost everyone is not purely on one side or the other. The issue for Dems is, how can they attract those who are in the middle, while still being true to party principles. And that starts with defining those principles. Yet, incredibly, the current Democratic Party's Platform has not been updated from the 2024 version, complete with references to President Biden (see https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf). Yes, this is the usual order of things - not to update the Dem platform except during a presidential campaign season. And in fact that is in the Dem Party charter. Yet, a member of the public who would actually like to consider voting for a Dem during the mid-term is limited to what the candidate states during the campaign, and has little idea of how the party itself feels about current important issues too new for the previous platform (e.g., the war in Iran, the war in Ukraine, the economy, AI, Israel, U.S. international relations, the emerging oligarchy, etc.). The rebubs just had a "convention" in Dallas. It didn't involve updating its platform, but that would be highly unusual since their dear leader is still in power. Considering how important this mid-term election is, the Dems should have held a convention and updated their charter and platform. But even that aside, the Dem party leadership should have figured out a way to better inform the public about how current party leadership views the most important issues of the day. That's the kind of communication strategy that would at least have a chance to attract the kind of potential voters this article notes are out there.