I know that this post has the serious potential to run off the few people who actually still read my blog on a regular basis...but these are things that I feel need to be said. My views are complicated and often seem to contradict themselves.
I hate politics. They make my head spin. I believe that all politicians are liars, especially the few who climb the ladder high enough to run for president. I don't like McCain. I don't like Obama. I don't like Biden. The only thing I feel I have in common with Palin is that we both have a vagina...but I do admire her courage in attempting to run with the big dogs.
I can't imagine that I am the only American who feels the way I do about politics, but I have been hard pressed to find anyone in my real life who shares my views. I stand right smack in the middle fo the road.
I am a Christian. My views are liberal. Herein lies my dilemma.
I believe in the right to free speech. I might not like everything that you have to say and you likely won't like much of what I have to say, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be allowed to say it.
I believe in the right to practice whatever religion floats your big, fat boat. I believe in God. I believe that Jesus Christ died on a cross to pay for the sins of all mankind. I didn't always believe this way...and if you don't, it's fine with me. If you want to worship the wart on your big toe, that is your right...but I will miss you when I am spending eternity in Heaven.
I believe in the right to keep and bear arms...if and when we are living on American soil again, be warned. If you try to enter my house without my permission, I will shoot you.
I believe in the freedom to assemble. I can neither confirm nor deny my previous involvement in riot activity. I might not agree with the cause(s) you are gathering for...but if you want to publicly profess your desire to burn crosses in the yards of your black neighbours or your desire to club baby seals, I won't try to stop you. But if I see you in the act...well...that's a whole 'nother story. heh
I believe in the right to petition...even though I fully believe that airing our grievances falls largely on deaf ears. The upper crust does not give a flying rat's ass about what's happening down here...but just like Dr. Seuss said in Horton Hears a Who, "A Person's a person, no matter how small" and if we all join together and raise our tiny, little voices up, eventually someone is going to have to listen.
I believe in the prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure...and not what the government now considers to be reasonable. I think that, for the most part, The Patriot Act is a ginormous infringement on our personal freedom. In fact, there are so many little tidbits of it that make me and That Guy I Married uncertain as to whether or not we will ever live on American soil, again. I am not doing anything wrong. I don't want them to have the right to listen in on my phone conversations. I don't want them tracking what books I check out from my local library. I don't want them to be able to confiscate my electronic devices at the airport, just to prove that I don't have ill intent against the United States. Big Brother, anyone???
I believe in the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment...and it really irks me to have someone who was tortured as a POW in Vietnam either turn a blind eye to or condone the torture that is happening in US military detention facilities, world wide. Anyone who doesn't believe that waterboarding is a form of torture should be tied up in a sack of cement mix and tossed off a bridge.
I am 100% anti-war-in-Iraq. This war was built on a big, fat lie and has only served to kill off thousands of Americans and to fatten the wallets of those in the oil industry. Pretty clever, using your fear tactics to initially get the nation on board with your grand scheme, President Bush.
That said, I am 100% pro-military. It is a life that served us well and were it not for TGIM's time in service, we would likely still be sitting in a crappy, little town in the midwestern United States. It provided our family with an adequate income and TGIM with an education that he otherwise might not have been able to get. Most of our soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq aren't there because they want to be. They are merely doing their jobs...and I think that after spending 12-15 months out of every two years down there, they deserve our respect...as do their families.
OK...this is the one issue that will probably make all of my readers run from my blog faster than a greyhound chasing a rabbit. I am pro-choice with pro-life tendencies. I have volunteered in a Crisis Pregnancy Center, counseling young women against abortion...and I meant every bit of it. I DO believe that life begins at conception and that many people who chose to have an abortion are not properly educated on the topic. I don't believe that the good folks at Planned Parenthood correct anyone when they refer to their little embryo with the flickering heart beat as anything more than a "blob of cells". I think that they should know what is happening inside their bodies before making the decision to have an abortion.
That said, I don't believe that overturning Roe vs. Wade will do anything to make the lives of women better. I don't think that the government should have the right to tell women what they can and can not do with their bodies. Just like Sarah Palin had the freedom to chose to bear and raise her son with Down's Syndrome and her daughter has the CHOICE to have and raise her baby, despite still being one herself...not everyone has the same kind of support system in place. I can honestly say that has I gotten myself knocked up as a teen, I would have gone on to have the baby...if my parents hadn't killed the both of us, first. I can also say that when I was pregnant with my second minion and the results of my AFP test placed me at a higher risk of having a baby with Down's, I never, for one second, wavered in my desire to have her...but I would never judge another woman for having to make that difficult decision.
I can't say what I would do if I got pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or what I would want for my own daughters in that situation. I can only imagine how much it would hurt to have to live with and raise an piece of the monster who raped you...or how much it would hurt to go through 9 months of pregnancy, give birth and ultimately give the baby up for adoption. I admire those who CHOSE to do that...but I can also appreciate the fact that not everyone can make that choice for themselves. How dare anyone judge a person in that situation??? I know it can't be easy.
Or what about this situation; a woman goes through years of reproductive therapy before conceiving her very much wanted twin boys. About halfway through her pregnancy she develops severe PIH. One of her babies dies in utero...the other is very sick. SHE is very sick. Basically what it came down to was that she could deliver her baby before the age of viability, saving her life and einsuring his death...or she could die carrying him. Had congress succeeded in preventing late term abortions, her husband would have not only lost his sons, but his wife, too. And she would not have been around to eventually give birth to their daughter. What gives Congress the right to say that her life was not worth saving?
I know that a lot of people have the issue of babies surviving late term abortions on their minds, right now...so here is what I think about that. I think that if an abortion fails and a live baby is born, that every effort should be made to sustain that baby's life and if the birth mother doesn't want to raise the baby herself, then her rights should be immediately terminated and the baby should be put up for adoption. Lord knows, there are families who would love to raise 'em. I had a room mate in my late teens who had an abortion at 8 weeks gestation, and then gave birth 4 months later to a perfectly formed 6 month old fetus. She was devastated...but she held him in her arms as he took his first and last breaths. She gave him a name and gave him a proper burial. He wasn't left to die, alone in a dirty linen closet...and I don't think any baby should have to suffer like that.
So anyway, there you have it. Can anyone show me a candidate who would support what I believe in??? It isn't as simple to me as either voting to "kill babies" or not. It is complicated, and it seems to me that all it comes down to is voting for the lesser of two evils. That isn't good enough for me.
