Although I have been a small business owner, a grant writer and an author, what has best prepared me to fight for the residents of Hawaii’s second Congressional district is raising a family on Maui.

 

As a parent, I manage the realities of satisfying basic human needs every day– which should certainly be a requirement for anyone who represents our citizens at any level of government. As a working parent, I provide both care and cash for my kids and family. I LIVE the day-to-day issues and navigate the practical realities that working families in our state face when it comes to education, healthcare, seniors, housing, substance abuse, keeping our families safe, and of course, the economy.

 

Caring for others has taught me what to prioritize.

 

Parents and children do not have lobbyists. That is why our representatives have not acted on affordable child care, equal pay, paid family leave, support for caregivers of elders, access to higher education, or gun control. Private interests don't make contributions to political campaigns based on what's best for our families, our children, or our future as a country. Yet that should be the FIRST consideration of every member of the US Congress.

 

I don’t just understand the issues. I know how to get things done. Like most parents, I have learned how to assess the needs of my family and community, and to address those needs in the most efficient way possible, usually with very little time. Raising kids while providing for them has taught me to multi-task, work out logistics, practice true empathy, compassion, and patience, and most importantly, how to negotiate.

 

Negotiation has become a lost art in Congress. Yet that was the very mechanism our Founding Fathers relied upon in devising the checks and balances between the three branches. As we've seen all too often, government cannot work without negotiation. It's the only way to move forward with so many competing interests, diverse values, and conflicting agendas. Negotiation does not, however, mean surrendering our values.

 

Like all caregivers, raising children has taught me to see the big picture, to appreciate the value of sacrifice, and to fight for what really matters.

 

That is the very essence of public service.

 

A friend of mine who is a parent advocate in DC, Valerie Young, describes caregiving this way:  “It is a full body contact sport, a multi-media, interdisciplinary mamapalooza of a way to live.”

 

I suspect that making a difference in Congress is similar.

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