guest blogging: do ya thing

The current state of our union and the upcoming election are giving many Americans a chance to re-evaluate their beliefs.  Today's guest blogger Heather from Finding Atman is kind enough to share a little of what is rolling around in her head as she ponders who to vote for.  Fair warning, it's a little Redder than MOMocrats usually sees but we are a welcoming and open minded group.  We thank Heather for her post and her courage in being willing to allow us to cross post it at MOMocrats.

As an analyst for the government, you learn early on that the answer to nearly every question is “It depends.”  Rarely is there an unequivocal yes or no.  I never thought I would use this blog to write about anything political.  I also never thought that I would be so concerned about an election that it would keep me up at night.  After all, day to day politics doesn’t really affect me that much does it?  So who should I vote for?

10 years ago, I declared myself a registered Republican.

In 2004, I didn’t vote because I couldn’t find my voter registration card.

In 2005, I subscribed to Yoga Journal who started selling my name to all kinds of organizations that don’t have a lot of Republicans on their mailing lists.

In 2006, I donated money to Planned Parenthood because I was swayed by an unsolicited mailing they sent me.

Throughout the rest of 2006 and 2007, the amount of liberal crap I got in the mail increased ten-fold - everyone from Al Franken for President to that guy from Law and Order (not Fred, the other one) - and I vowed I would never again donate money because I was asked to by mail.

In 2008, I voted in my state’s primary for the first time ever.

In November, I will have thought more about who I will vote for than about anything political in the past 10 years.

Do you ever look at all the issues and wish we could just start over?  I do.  But sweeping change, a rhetoric that’s especially popular this time of year, can’t ever happen.  There are too many people that disagree on what thier needs are and how to prioritize, let alone how to make it work or pay for it.

So where do you even start?  For me, I’m fascinated with the economics of things - is it better to spend hours to save a few pennies with coupons or spend those hours trying to make more money?  How have we managed to completely eradicate nature from our food supply and why is it acceptable to have no idea what happens to your meat before it gets to your table?  Why were writers on strike eligible for unemployment benefits when they were choosing not to work?  Why do we value our money more than time?

As I said, I’m registered Republican.  I grew up in a small safe town with two loving parents, who sacrificed to put a roof over my head and help me pay for college.  I am on a continued quest to better myself, through a potent hybrid fuel of guilt, fear, boredom, and challenge.

I have always disagreed with affirmative action.  It struck me as ironically funny sad that many women are voting for Hillary because it’s their duty as a woman to put a woman into office.  Isn’t that the reverse of affirmative action?  I don’t want a job BECAUSE I’m a woman, I want that fact to be irrelevant based on my qualifications.

I wrote several weeks ago about a trip to Target where the young woman in front of me yelled at the cashier because she couldn’t purchase a 20 oz Pepsi with food stamps.  I wondered why she needed food stamps to buy her drink, considering she had several non-essential type items in her cart, including DVDs.  I wondered why she wasn’t at work.

Righteous indignation about your situation should lead you to do something about it to help YOURSELF, not look to the government or me to fix it for you.  Why should I continue to work my ass off so I can pay through my taxes for welfare, or a nationwide healthcare system to care for people who don’t care enough to take care of themselves?

Here is where I lose steam, and feel powerless about social change. The problem is that for every person who expects to lounge in their recliner all day watching cable TV eating food paid for with food stamps and collecting unemployment, there is a person or family who is truly in need, who has genuinely tried and failed, or been failed by the system to become independent from government handouts.  I used to believe the world was filled with the former.

Jen has introduced me to some of the latter.  You don’t see those people because they aren’t the squeakiest wheels, therefore they get less grease.  They are ashamed of their situation, or at least secure in the knowledge that they did the best they could, and they don’t blame you or I for where they’ve ended up.

So who I should vote for would seem obvious.  Vote Democratic to help the people who’ve tried to help themselves.  But…

I work for the military and have for most of my career.  I’ve heard firsthand accounts of the war from people who’ve been there fighting it.  I’ve studied analyses of why it isn’t as easy as CNN thinks it should be, and it goes back to deep divisons along religious lines - think the Crusades.  I’ve worked with units whose sole mission is to respond and clean up the bodies if there were another terror attack on the United States and it is truly terrifying.  Hillary wants to cut half a million contractor jobs her first year in office.  I’ve worked at lots of places where but for the contractors, the place would do nothing but consume coffee and money while continuing to hula hoop red tape.

I dread the idea that we’ll be in Iraq for 25 more years, while the young people in this country shy further away from military service. But to leave now would be chaotic, and I truly believe that if we did, in 10 years we would be fighting the same war, just starting over.

So the above would seem obvious.  Stick to your party.

Then again, why would I support a candidate who is going to overturn my right to choose?  Why does that make sense if it prevents an unwanted child from being born into a life of neglect or a life that perpetuates a help-me kind of culture?

Vote Democrat and preserve that freedom.

Lately I’ve become particularly concerned about what I’m eating and what I’m feeding my son.  I’ve been reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma and without being preachy or over-the-top, this book lays out hard economic facts that prove environmental problems aren’t just with our SUVs.  Barack seems to think ethanol is a good idea.  It’s not.

Vote Republican because John has stated that ethanol isn’t the answer.

Though few of us care to think about it, monocultural agriculture is killing the environment and killing us.  All the work for social change, healthcare reform, even security and the war becomes irrelevant if we have a planet that can’t sustain life inhabited by unhealthy, overweight people.  This type of agriculture is encouraged by big business, subsidized farming, and sustaining an unnecessary culture of excess.

Vote Democrat because Barack’s says get rid of some farm subsidies while encouraging small business.

It’s like I’m ordering a combo meal and each combo comes with something I don’t like but will be forced to eat if I get it.

On a very personal level, I’m trying to hold true to what I’ve always believed.  Since I became a mom though, some things seem less important to preserve and other things that never mattered much are of the utmost importance.  When you become a mom, you lose the opportunity to be selfish in your political views.  For me that means taking a hard look at what you’ve always held as truth.

If I have to swallow some things that I disagree with because it offends me personally in order to make headway on some things I feel very strongly about, I’ll take one for the team.

I did a lot of research, in-depth, before I wrote this.  I read more quotes and articles on the current candidates than I ever thought I could stomach because how much does one vote count anyway?  In the grand scheme of millions of votes, maybe not a lot.

But in the small knot that is my family, my children, and the time that went into choosing it, that vote counts a hell of a lot.  So whatever it is that you believe, go do ya thing.  Just make sure you know why.

Comments

[Donna]

I'm a lifelong registered Democrat and I struggle with many of the same dilemmas as you, Heather. Our huge country is so diverse and our freedoms so important; coming up with solutions to the many problems we face is complicated and rife with the specter of unintended consequences. But if we don't try, we'll never succeed. We need to share our ideas in a respectful, unthreatening manner, even when we don't agree with one another. Together, we can make things happen.

One of the things that has most excited me about this election is the number of people who have decided to enter the conversation and cast their votes for the first time. This can only bode well for our future. Welcome to the fold!

[Glennia]

Like Donna, I'm a lifelong Democrat, and I thank you for writing this thoughtful post. It's easy to pigeonhole people and think you know what they believe based on labels. The issues are way more complex than any label can describe, and the solutions should cross boundaries.

The most ridiculous show of partisanship that I've seen is in the Roger Clemens hearings. All the Republicans believed Clemens, and all the Democrats believed the other guy. How about trying to figure out what's true using good judgment? That seems to have been tossed out the window as soon as an elected official takes the oath of office.

On the issue of contractors, I think you have a good point about how much some of the contractors are needed, and that they do very useful work. The problem that I have with them (Black Water, Halliburton come to mind) is that they seem to be chosen without competive bids, and are not held to any kind of performance standards. I have done government contracting, so I know that the standards are normally very stringent, but in some cases, it looks like the rules were overlooked based on who you know. I hadn't heard that Hillary was planning to cut contractor jobs, and will check that out. I'd like to understand her reasoning.

[jaelithe]

Whenever I get annoyed with Barack Obama about corn ethanol, I remind myself that he is the Junior Senator from Illinois, and any Senator from Illinois who failed to support corn ethanol would be booed out of office, because King Corn rules all parts of that state not named Chicago.

I am hoping that a more nationally-oriented office will perhaps give him some perspective?

(Also he HAS done a lot of other really good things where fuel conservation and general environmental protections are concerned that have nothing whatsoever to do with ethanol. Check my blog for some.)

[Marline]

Hello all, my name is Marline and I'm a true Edwards supporter. We have a Thinking Of You card to be delivered to Elizabeth Edwards on March 3rd. I don't want anyone to miss out in signing this card so please sign it. If you have questions my email is: marline@sc.rr.com
Please forward it to invite more people: http://squidnote.com/c/mv9TK9UdNpK

Thank you, I know Elizabeth will be delighted to know we are thinking of her.