*WARNING * OPINIONATED POLITICAL POST TO FOLLOW.
I am not a twitter follower or poster.
I am not generally a very political poster, and, despite having a government- or former-government-employee-heavy family, I don't follow everyday politics very closely.
You probably, at this point, have decided for whom you will vote for this 2016 election. You may already voted early.
I have already voted early.
I proudly live in a Blue State and can't see moving anytime soon.
If you didn't read the title of this post and know me at all, you probably know for whom I voted, and you may be like-minded.
If you are voting for the other party, while we may be and stay friends, this post is strongly worded and is both for you and may anger and/or offend you (so here's another warning that you may want to stop reading now).
However, the last few weeks have really riled me up, and I wanted to post something for myself on this historic election so that I could look back on the boiling passion (resembling rage?) that I feel at this time. I have never felt as strongly about an election in my lifetime as I have felt about this one.
Here's an interesting map from PBS posted by a FB friend which suggests how the Electoral map may look, broken down by demographic group.
Despite voters from both major U.S. political parties expressing that they are disgusted with the "state of American politics" and the general election this year, mentioning writing in random candidates for president, abstaining from voting, voting for an unelectable third-party candidate, or trying to figure out how to vote for the "lesser of two evils," I would have to say that I am proud to vote for the candidate who, in my opinion, is the current obvious choice and the only one who is qualified to serve as our nation's Commander-in-Chief.
You may think that Obamacare is coercive and costly and that it's the worst thing to come out of what has been an extremely well-run, scandal-free Democratic presidency which has accomplished many other great leaps of justice. While it's not perfect, it's a start. You may not see the healthcare unfairness, waste, and costs that I do. You may not see social justice like I do.
You may be white, may have never feared nor faced discrimination (or the possibility of a bullet to the back due to implicit racism) and may harbor fear of foreigners (labeling them "would-be-terrorists" while ignoring or minimizing our own home-grown American citizens' rampages on our own people and children). You may not have family who were not born in this country, and may not see the importance and richness of living in a country that embraces people from all ethnicities (and religions), all of whom deserve our respect and a chance to contribute in positive ways as an American.
You may have never left the United States' borders and may not understand what a disaster a Trump presidency would do for our global respectability, relationships, and safety.
You may be male, and may have never been the victim of sexual harassment, sexism, or assault (although males could certainly be victims here), and it may not be personal enough for you.
You may think that Hillary has made some very questionable judgment calls, although I would point out that no politician whose life and decisions are scrutinized could claim he/she was perfect in every decision and in every moment, especially in hindsight (except for maybe the venerable Barack Obama ;)). You may think her ruthless, or non-feminine, or too abrasive or bold, or not charismatic, and criticize her for things that men (including GOP presidential candidates or former presidents) would get with or have gotten away with, without an eye having been batted. You may think she is not trustworthy, or has backpedaled (but please don't turn a blind eye to the authenticity, or lack thereof, of her alternative, who is most certainly lying about many things, including campaign promises and evading the law). It's time to remove the double standard.
You may be a conservative Christian with a single-item agenda, and consider your personal pro-life view to be the only reason to vote for the Republican party this year so that individual women's choices could theoretically become politicians' choices via a partisan judiciary. I would argue, like many articles (here and here), that to be consistently pro-life [and not just pro-birth], you have to be willing to support and finance social programs that help women, mothers, children, and families and the evidence suggests that you should vote for the only party (that of HRC) that has successfully and systematically lowered abortion rates to their lowest since they became legal in this country, in part by improving access to contraception.
If you love the Lord, you should support a candidate who loves her neighbor(s), and who preaches and who will implement love and tolerance, not one who is a sexist, racist, misogynistic, narcissistic pugilist and sexual offender and who is about as far from a model Christian you can get, who has alienated much of his own traditional party base (including Evangelicals). Will you proudly look into their eyes and tell your children for whom you voted as their role model because he was the better example to lead our country? I am a Christian, I am a mom, and I am strongly With Her.
You may not really grasp how momentous it is to have a woman (and her gender is NOT why I am voting for her) be considered for the highest public office in our country, when you live in a country that, until 2008, had been exclusively run by "stale, pale" males for over two hundred years (If you haven't, you should watch this 11-minute, powerful and inspiring video that didn't make it to the DNC [but should have!] on the Rodham family story and which commemorates powerful women in history and which left me crying with tears of pride). I was more than excited when Obama was elected. I will be that much more thrilled this time around if Hillary breaks the glass ceiling and deservedly takes those electoral votes because it is a testament to how far we have come.
Politics and election years certainly call for disagreements, and while I rarely agree with national Republicans' platforms, I believe that the choice this year is obvious for any American who believes in life and liberty [property I don't care as much about], for any election in my lifetime (or in the history of American presidential politics, for that matter). While I haven't agreed with other Republican presidential candidates' agendas, I haven't thought the individuals particularly despicable, indecent, or malignant in underlying character nor completely unqualified for this elected office (like I do Trump). I haven't been physically scared and ill to think of any other Republican getting elected, in my entire history of being enfranchised. I am scared now, for democracy and the future of our country.
You may disagree with me politically (and of course this post is just my strong opinion spelled out on my blog because it was threatening to erupt in me every time I saw an anti-Hillary post from a friend, or a Trump ad, or heard Trump open his mouth), and you may still vote for a candidate and platform that I feel would weaken our exceptional country and target and alienate those who are or who have been marginalized, and who cannot stand up for themselves due to lack of representation or other barriers. I have faith that your party, this year, will not win. While we may stay friends and I hate how divisive this election has become, I do take forced oppression personally and I am disappointed that you might place your values and your vote in favor of the narrow-mindedness and horror that this man exemplifies. While I, unlike Trump, ultimately trust our democratic process, and will accept the outcome of this election, I also still have hope and pray that Americans still are wise enough to vote not to reverse the progress of the last decades and that the 2016 president-elect will be the one who truly has our country's best interest at heart, who will work on compromise, actual and bipartisan legislation, who lifts up and doesn't beat down major groups of people, and one who will continue to keep America great.
I am not a twitter follower or poster.
I am not generally a very political poster, and, despite having a government- or former-government-employee-heavy family, I don't follow everyday politics very closely.
You probably, at this point, have decided for whom you will vote for this 2016 election. You may already voted early.
I have already voted early.
I proudly live in a Blue State and can't see moving anytime soon.
If you didn't read the title of this post and know me at all, you probably know for whom I voted, and you may be like-minded.
If you are voting for the other party, while we may be and stay friends, this post is strongly worded and is both for you and may anger and/or offend you (so here's another warning that you may want to stop reading now).
However, the last few weeks have really riled me up, and I wanted to post something for myself on this historic election so that I could look back on the boiling passion (resembling rage?) that I feel at this time. I have never felt as strongly about an election in my lifetime as I have felt about this one.
Here's an interesting map from PBS posted by a FB friend which suggests how the Electoral map may look, broken down by demographic group.
Despite voters from both major U.S. political parties expressing that they are disgusted with the "state of American politics" and the general election this year, mentioning writing in random candidates for president, abstaining from voting, voting for an unelectable third-party candidate, or trying to figure out how to vote for the "lesser of two evils," I would have to say that I am proud to vote for the candidate who, in my opinion, is the current obvious choice and the only one who is qualified to serve as our nation's Commander-in-Chief.
You may think that Obamacare is coercive and costly and that it's the worst thing to come out of what has been an extremely well-run, scandal-free Democratic presidency which has accomplished many other great leaps of justice. While it's not perfect, it's a start. You may not see the healthcare unfairness, waste, and costs that I do. You may not see social justice like I do.
You may be white, may have never feared nor faced discrimination (or the possibility of a bullet to the back due to implicit racism) and may harbor fear of foreigners (labeling them "would-be-terrorists" while ignoring or minimizing our own home-grown American citizens' rampages on our own people and children). You may not have family who were not born in this country, and may not see the importance and richness of living in a country that embraces people from all ethnicities (and religions), all of whom deserve our respect and a chance to contribute in positive ways as an American.
You may have never left the United States' borders and may not understand what a disaster a Trump presidency would do for our global respectability, relationships, and safety.
You may be male, and may have never been the victim of sexual harassment, sexism, or assault (although males could certainly be victims here), and it may not be personal enough for you.
You may think that Hillary has made some very questionable judgment calls, although I would point out that no politician whose life and decisions are scrutinized could claim he/she was perfect in every decision and in every moment, especially in hindsight (except for maybe the venerable Barack Obama ;)). You may think her ruthless, or non-feminine, or too abrasive or bold, or not charismatic, and criticize her for things that men (including GOP presidential candidates or former presidents) would get with or have gotten away with, without an eye having been batted. You may think she is not trustworthy, or has backpedaled (but please don't turn a blind eye to the authenticity, or lack thereof, of her alternative, who is most certainly lying about many things, including campaign promises and evading the law). It's time to remove the double standard.
You may be a conservative Christian with a single-item agenda, and consider your personal pro-life view to be the only reason to vote for the Republican party this year so that individual women's choices could theoretically become politicians' choices via a partisan judiciary. I would argue, like many articles (here and here), that to be consistently pro-life [and not just pro-birth], you have to be willing to support and finance social programs that help women, mothers, children, and families and the evidence suggests that you should vote for the only party (that of HRC) that has successfully and systematically lowered abortion rates to their lowest since they became legal in this country, in part by improving access to contraception.
If you love the Lord, you should support a candidate who loves her neighbor(s), and who preaches and who will implement love and tolerance, not one who is a sexist, racist, misogynistic, narcissistic pugilist and sexual offender and who is about as far from a model Christian you can get, who has alienated much of his own traditional party base (including Evangelicals). Will you proudly look into their eyes and tell your children for whom you voted as their role model because he was the better example to lead our country? I am a Christian, I am a mom, and I am strongly With Her.
You may not really grasp how momentous it is to have a woman (and her gender is NOT why I am voting for her) be considered for the highest public office in our country, when you live in a country that, until 2008, had been exclusively run by "stale, pale" males for over two hundred years (If you haven't, you should watch this 11-minute, powerful and inspiring video that didn't make it to the DNC [but should have!] on the Rodham family story and which commemorates powerful women in history and which left me crying with tears of pride). I was more than excited when Obama was elected. I will be that much more thrilled this time around if Hillary breaks the glass ceiling and deservedly takes those electoral votes because it is a testament to how far we have come.
Politics and election years certainly call for disagreements, and while I rarely agree with national Republicans' platforms, I believe that the choice this year is obvious for any American who believes in life and liberty [property I don't care as much about], for any election in my lifetime (or in the history of American presidential politics, for that matter). While I haven't agreed with other Republican presidential candidates' agendas, I haven't thought the individuals particularly despicable, indecent, or malignant in underlying character nor completely unqualified for this elected office (like I do Trump). I haven't been physically scared and ill to think of any other Republican getting elected, in my entire history of being enfranchised. I am scared now, for democracy and the future of our country.
You may disagree with me politically (and of course this post is just my strong opinion spelled out on my blog because it was threatening to erupt in me every time I saw an anti-Hillary post from a friend, or a Trump ad, or heard Trump open his mouth), and you may still vote for a candidate and platform that I feel would weaken our exceptional country and target and alienate those who are or who have been marginalized, and who cannot stand up for themselves due to lack of representation or other barriers. I have faith that your party, this year, will not win. While we may stay friends and I hate how divisive this election has become, I do take forced oppression personally and I am disappointed that you might place your values and your vote in favor of the narrow-mindedness and horror that this man exemplifies. While I, unlike Trump, ultimately trust our democratic process, and will accept the outcome of this election, I also still have hope and pray that Americans still are wise enough to vote not to reverse the progress of the last decades and that the 2016 president-elect will be the one who truly has our country's best interest at heart, who will work on compromise, actual and bipartisan legislation, who lifts up and doesn't beat down major groups of people, and one who will continue to keep America great.
Love Trumps Hate
Here we go, November Eight!
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