Politics

I know I said I wasn’t going to make this blog political and I am going to limit that subject to this single post. I believe politics and your feelings about who to vote for, the issues that matter to you are personal. I will not try to change anyone’s mind about how they vote, because to me, that seems to go against what America is about, the freedom to choose. I think we all have the responsibility to investigate the issues and candidates to find out as much as we can before we go into the voting booth. Snide, ugly, half-truth emails DO NOT constitute good solid research into the issues. If you are a conservative thinker, you would do yourself a favor if you listened to something besides Fox News and Rush. By the same token, if you are a liberal thinker, you would be well served by the occasional viewing of Fox News…it would give you all some perspective and a look at both sides of an issue.

Now, while I am not going to try to change your mind, I am going to let you in on the things that matter to me politically…I care about Health Insurance. I was a member of the Working Poor for many years and quite frankly, worked my butt off, paid taxes and it pisses me off greatly that my tax money went to pay insurance for people who were not working. Could I have bought Health Insurance? Sure if I didn’t want to feed my kids! My kids had insurance during this time period, but it didn’t cover preventative care. We had a $1000 deductible, so it was good if something horrible happened. Now, I have a question for you….when a member of the “working poor” that doesn’t have insurance gets sick and goes to the Emergency Room for treatment and can’t pay, who do you think pays for this? That’s right, you and me, so would it be less expensive to provide some type of insurance that would provide preventative care, allow these folks to go to the doctor before they need an emergency room or continue to treat them when they are very, very sick? What is the solution, I don’t know, but I have been there, praying that the cough coming from on the kids will get better with some Formula 44 and thankfully, it always did. If you don’t know that feeling, then thank God for that tonight, because it the the worst feeling in the world to know you can’t take your kids to the doctor, even if they need to go.

I would like for our boys to come home. I completely support our troops and understand we need to move them out in an orderly way that will cause the least amount of loss to our guys. I am not that concerned about Iraq’s stability because I don’t think they will ever be a stable democratic government. All I have to say here, is read some scholarly books on World History, gain an understanding of what a Republic is, what Democracy is and what a monarchy and theocracy are.

I am concerned about the price of fuel and it’s effect on the economy. It’s pretty obvious we need to conserve then work on developing fuel from a renewable source. Americans are bright, innovative people and I think we can beat this one! I am angry that the heads of the oil companies are raking in the cash. They promised they would invest a large sum of the money into researching new fuel sources but they haven’t (learned that watching the Congressional hearings on C-Span – love that channel, no commentary, just a camera into the action)

Those are my top three and you probably think you know who I am going to vote for….but you would be wrong, because I still don’t know. I have more reading and research to do.

I am going to end this with a thought for how I would love to see my friends and family handle this. There has been a great deal of talk about whether the Democratic nominee is a Christian. I don’t want to debate that issue at all, just remind everyone, if you are going to hold his Christianity under the microscope, hold your own as well and remember this:

The Greatest Commandment Mark 12:28-31

28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[a] 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^[b] 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[c]There is no commandment greater than these.”

This passage goes on to become the parable of the Good Samaritan. The truth from that parable…everyone, even people we despise and are afraid of, is our neighbor.  When you hit the send button, are you loving your neighbor or perpetuating a stereotype?