Me? Not so much. I could be, I suppose. If I didn't so firmly believe that the religious right's influence on the Republican party is totally out of control. With me, it's not so much the party's general issues, as it is the fact that religious groups do not belong on the political forefront.
And it's not that I'm not religious. I am. But I'm also against telling everyone else what they can or can't do based on my personal convictions.
I'm against keeping knowledge regarding birth control from high-schoolers. Abstinence clearly isn't the only option, and the current abstinence-only education policy has resulted in increasing STD and teenage pregnancy rates for the first time after a many-year decline. I'm against making abortions illegal in any and all cases (including rape and incest) just because I personally can't see myself ever considering having one. I'm against limiting everyone's access to books just because I might consider them inappropriate reading material. I'm against saying that gay couples can't be legally recognized as a committed couple just because I am in the heterosexual majority.
I learned early on in our relationship that politics was the one and only one totally off-limit topic between us.
In local elections, he shows a bit of common sense. We discuss candidates for some of the offices, and we generally agree on who would be the best candidate based on their views. Our viewpoints, after all, really are fairly similar. However when it comes to national elections, I consider it my duty in life to cancel out his uneducated votes. He seems to have no ability to even consider crossing the Republican line and looking at actual issues.
Not that Democrats are always on the "right" side of issues. I am NOT claiming that. But neither are Republicans, and to vote responsibly, you need to know what you are voting for. Or against, as the case may be.
Last night at the dinner table, he was reading an article from the newspaper. He made some sort of comment about the presidential race, so I had my opening. I pointed out that a president really doesn't have the power on his own to put all of his platform into practice, and that a good portion of what you vote for has to be integrity and personality. I went on to highlight the reasons I support Obama. When he mentioned that he would feel much better about Palin becoming president than Biden, I said that I couldn't agree because she has too many extremist views, and that the thought of her in office scares the heck out of me.
He asked why... what were those extremist views... and I was happy to point out a few of them. And I found out that he was totally clueless. He truly had no idea.
I just don't get it. How can you have lived in this country for the past month and not know any of these things?
But after our talk, he backed off of his earlier statement. He said that he'd be ok with a female as president. I agreed with him heartily.
And as I added, "Just not this one," he echoed at the same time, "But perhaps this isn't the right one."
And then we proceeded to discussing the platform of the two candidates, and the differences between them. And he even listened.
Maybe he'll get it yet.
6 comments:
Hey well done. Civil political discussions are rarities these days. There's just so much polarization. The abstinence only education thing is just the latest thing that I've gotten annoyed with the Republicans about. For some reason I thought that McCain would be more pragmatic than Bush about that, but when I was doing research for a post about the candidates views on science, I found that he fully supported continuing abstinence only sex ed. Grrrrr. The G.O.P. would be well served with jettisoning the Religious Right!
My darling wife has been a diehard Democrat all her life. I am an independent, but an anti-religious arch-conservative. We simply agree to disagree on political issues, but we agree on all the everyday things that really matter, and we're always thinking the same things at the same time, so the political differences really become trivial.
I do not care either way about the left or right in politics. I am for gay marriage and against the abortion of babies. I am in pro military might and against the war in Iraq. To me the greatest issue today (as it has been for the last twenty years) is still the US economy. Neither party works for all the things that are important to me - and both parties are to blame for the economic mess we are currently in. I say throw all the bums out. Vote Libertarian!
I lean Republican but I make an intelligent choice. I have never just voted republican without a reason. Other times I try to balance things out. A heavily republican school board gets my democrat vote or the other way around. I mainly do that because I do not know much about the school board.
I am so sick of this election pre-game. On local elections that I am very familiar with the candidates I can spot all the half truths. And there are a lot of half truths being spoken. Neither one deserves the office in this one race but I will have to vote to throw the incumbent republican out because his campaign adds were far worse then his opponent. The problem is I see the same things in the National election. In my opinion there is no way that McCain or Obama deserve my vote and most of the other parties scare the heck out of me.
They're sure a rarity in my household! (Fortunately all 3 of the kids appear to be more like me and less like him, so I pray they'll be informed voters when they are old enough.)
Marvin, there's nothing wrong with being opposites. My beef is with being uninformed.
Marty, I doubt Libertarian would solve it either. Maybe all the states could just secede from the union and be our own countries? LOL
I'm tired of the half-truths too Bryon. I'll be SO glad when the next month is over and life can resume without all the ads! But unlike you, I think Obama has a good portion of what the country needs right now. I just hope that whoever wins can start to pull things back together again. It's a tough time for a lot of people.
Even though we talked about this on the phone, I HAD to comment - you know me, Miss Shrinking Violet.
I am going to see if HG has any chinks in his Repblican armor so I can get in there and create a little irritation so he can THINK before November 4th arrives.
*crossing fingers*
BTW, I was up for SNL last night and saw Tina Fey channeling Palin. OMG. Hysterical stuff, I tell ya.
Post a Comment