I will be voting for Obama. Mostly because the alternatives are WORSE, but there it is. I'd prefer it if there were an even remotely viable third-party candidate, but there isn't (that I know of). And when I vote, I'm going to err on the side of compassion, love, and your basic Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Some stuff has happened under Obama that I'm not too thrilled about (but I'm not naive enough to believe that he's solely responsible for any of them). People make bad judgement calls every day. It's just that most of them aren't at the head of a government.
But the biggest reasons why I'm voting for Obama actually have MORE to do with Mitt Romney:
Dear (or rather, Not So Dear) Sir,
I am a woman. I am educated enough to know many many things that you seem determined to deny. Among these are the capability for self-determination, self-examination, and the ability to make decisions based on something other than hormone levels and blood flow south. I can decide for myself whether contraceptives are right for me, whether or not I believe personhood begins at conception, whether or not abortion is the right choice for me. I do not need you to tell me what I believe because, newsflash, I don't buy into your personal religion.
I am educated enough to look at reams -- REAMS -- of written words explaining, even in very very small words you might possibly understand, that being anywhere on the Rainbow spectrum is not, in fact, a matter of choice. Nor does it, surprisingly, make one different from a straight person, in the essentials of personhood. In fact, I personally fall somewhere on that arc. No, I'm not telling you where; you'd either be actually offended, or you'd pretend to be offended while secretly getting off on the idea of two college-age girls getting off together (alternatively, you'd be as squicked out as a pre-teenaged boy, which pretty much means either you're a pre-teenaged boy, or you might be hiding somewhere under the Rainbow yourself. I prefer not to speculate -- because, honestly, the thought of you anywhere near sex squicks ME out).
Republican obstructionist policies in DC a couple of years back made headlines when they messed with the federal budget. Democrats were trying to compromise. Republicans refused. Republicans were responsible for many many government employees -- including my husband, and the husbands of many women I've come to see as friends (or at least friendly acquaintances) -- worrying about their paychecks. Really, dude, it's not smart to mess with the people who know where the big guns *AND* their bullets are kept. Additionally, I think it's rankest, grossest hypocrisy to claim to support the military while actually attempting to not only cut their budget, but also expressing a desire to completely cut certain social assistance programs that are inordinately relied on by military families. That's right, far too many of those "lazy bums" on food stamps/WIC assistance are lower enlisted soldiers and their families, because they are paid LESS than a living wage, but are required to work too many hours to be able to take on second jobs to help make ends meet. And childcare is so prohibitively expensive that for many families, it's actually TOO COSTLY for Mom to work, so she's being forced to be a stay-at-home mom, even if she feels like her family would be better served by her going to work.
And then there's Medicare/Medicaid: how many of our veterans rely on this for healthcare? I know my grandfather does. Your so-called "voucher" program, how exactly is that going to work? Is my grandfather going to have sufficient vouchers to cover his current care? Is he going to have enough over to cover any major medical incidents that might happen unexpectedly beyond that? Or is my family going to be stuck trying to come up with extra money where none exists to get him care if he has another stroke, or gets pneumonia?
If my husband is, God forbid, killed while still in the military, will you see to it that our children and myself get his life insurance? Or will you have found a way around that, too? Will we be eligible for medical care, or will I have to scramble to try to find a job that might possibly offer that at something less than half my take-home pay?
Regarding your views on "bringing God back into the White House," you do realize that there are a LOT of people in the US who are not, in fact Mormons, right? There are, in fact, a lot of people in the US who aren't even Christians. Many of us were raised Christian, but for whatever reason have felt the Church has failed us, and we no longer feel affiliated with it. To those of us who believe in the separation of Church and State, that statement is a huge slap in the face; a message telling us that we better at least start paying lip service to your God or we're liable to be in trouble...
Anyway, Mr. Romney, my point is, YOU SCARE ME.
No love,
Me
