When I first started blogging regularly, I tried not to be a political fanatic. We all have our opinions and perceptions of the candidates and issues which I try to respect. With the upcoming presidential race, I became apathetic due to the mess that our country is in, the war that we should not have started and the outright takeover of the Justice department of the religious right. (Vote Machine: How Republicans Hacked the Justice Department, By Scott Horton for Harper's Magazine) Surreptitiously having a degree from an Ivy League college was seen as wrong when compared to a degree from a fourth tier college with religious ties. Where was the checks and balances? Isn't there suppose to be a separation of church and state?
Back to choices though...I chose to become apathetic and after this past week's RNC nominations, I am choosing to learn more about the candidates. My opinion of the American dream is to work hard, go to a good college and raise a family. Even when we needed my full-time income, our choice was for me to work part-time to raise my family. We don't go to church, I believe in a woman's choice for abortion and even though I would like to think that my sons won't have sex until they are married, we have lots of conversations about birth control to ensure that they know what safe sex is. According to some people, I guess I am not American. But these are the choices that I have made and so far, knock on wood, no teenage pregnancies here and my sons are planning to attend college.
Senator McCain has chosen Sarah Palin as a running mate and it's my opinion that if she was a man, she wouldn't have even made the list, let alone the short list. She has chosen a political career over being home with her family. Beyond the whole teenage daughter pregnancy, I worry more about her youngest son and the medical issues that he may have. The first five years in any child's life is important to their development, even more so when there are disabilities involved. Ms. Palin has chosen to be a vice-presidential candidate. It's a tough call to say which one on the Republican ticket has made the worst choice. All I know is, that if elected, the republicans will try to limit our choices!
Idaho does not have religious ties, it just sucks as a school. Well said all around!
ReplyDeleteJust a couple questions that come to mind when I hear questioning of Palin's decision to be a politician:
ReplyDeleteWhen you ask about Palin's choosing a political career over being home with her family, do you question Biden choosing to do the same when his boys were young and had just lost their mother?
It's 2008, should we really be questioning a woman for choosing a career and not "staying home" with her family whether it is a political career or other career?
I question the role of motherhood and career particularly when there is a child with disabilities involved.
ReplyDeleteBiden isn't campaigning as a hockey mother which implies that you are a woman who can do it all, career, raise a family and go to hockey games. I lived in a hockey house, there are a lot of sacrifices to family time for one to play hockey.
In 2008, I do think we can question a mother, I am not judging, but I think we should be open to question.
So we question mothers for choosing careers & mothers for staying home. Women can't win!
ReplyDeleteI am with you all the way on this one, JennyMcB. My big concern is for that child with Down syndrome. Early intervention would help the kid live a "normal" life, and Mom needs to be there instead of a "caregiver." On top of that, I just disagree with so many of the woman's stances: from book banning, to abortion, to gun control, to her stand on gay rights. Maybe that's the one that irks me the most. My youngest son is gay, several close friends are, as well. Being gay is NOT a choice, but we, as voters, have the choice to give them the freedoms we give to other Americans...
ReplyDeleteeek.
Sorry. I got up on my soapbox, didn't I...
I do not think that Sarah Palin should have refused the VP spot because of her young, special needs child. I think she should have refused it for her pregnant child, and for the spotlight it is showing on a high school boy -- that baby's father -- who isn't her kid and who she has no right to expose to this scrutiny at all. For me, this is not gender based. I am appalled that John Edwards was so overbearingly ambitious that he exposed HIS family to gossip blogs and scandal sheets. If a politician knows there's dirty laundry at home -- regardless of who dirtied it -- that politician should stay off the national stage.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was the #1 job of parents to provide for and protect their families, not expose them to humiliation so the family name can appear on bumperstickers and campaign buttons. And that goes for moms as well as dads.