Happy Halloween all! If you want a Halloween themed post, I suggest you look back a week to hear about my dramatic childhood. While we are on the topic of scary, why not chat about the upcoming elections?
I realized I said I would blog about my political views awhile ago, and I never did. I figured I might as well now because election day is next Tuesday (Wow! Where has the time gone?). So here is a quick synopsis:
As I mentioned earlier, me and politics have a rough time together. I find myself being split between two candidates because I’m a fiscal conservative and social liberal. Let’s start with the fiscal.
Fiscally, I’m all about open and free markets. Government control in our economic system always makes me a bit nervous because it never seems to work. These economic times are a perfect example. I understand that stock market is going through some rough times, I understand that people who decided to play the game of Wall Street are losing a lot of their money (along with our 401k’s). But here’s the deal, nothing goes up forever, there is a point where things have to go back down to go up. It’s like a forest. Eventually there’s going to be a fire that burns up stuff, but along with that, comes new and fresh growth. Nobody likes to lose things, I get that. However, life isn’t full of puppies and sunshine either. I do believe if we let the economy run itself, it will work out in the end.
I also think this is why universal health care is a bad idea. Look, everyone should be entitled to health care because sick people shouldn’t stay sick. At the same time, saying that we are going to offer universal health care also means that money has to come from somewhere. This only places us in more debt. Oh, and there’s also something called Medicare for those that can’t afford it. There are ways, but I just don’t think universal health care (as it has been proposed now) is going to be a way to actually get that health care to the masses.
Now let’s talk about the social stuff. Since I’m a Christian, you may expect me to be pretty conservative but I find myself to be quite the opposite. Here’s why. While I do think that abortion and gay marriage (among other things) are hot button issues, they are not governmental regulated issues. Forcing people to live by these moral codes is not going to solve anything. We are a democracy and not a theocracy. Ever heard of the Holy Roman Empire? That ends in failure.
Let’s start with gay marriage. While I may not agree with homosexuality, I also know that forcing homosexuals not to get married is not going to solve anything, in fact, it’s only going to make people more bitter. How can it be possible to reach out and love others when we are always outwardly condemning a lifestyle and putting restrictions on it. When we do that, we begin to treat the homosexual community like second class citizens, and I’m not sure we have the right to do that.
The other big issue is abortion. I’ve been told many times that if I vote Democratic I’ve voting for abortion. That is not the fact. To be frank, I’m disillusioned with how Republicans have tried to tackle this issue. The classic case is that the president is someone who elects Supreme Court justices and it is those justices who will help us overturn Roe V. Wade. Well, did you know that in recent cases regarding abortion, the justices appointed by George W. Bush have upheld Roe V. Wade. A lot of good that has done. Overturning Roe V. Wade is a lofty idea that brings no action.
Did you know that the number of abortions under Democratic presidents has gone down as compared to Republicans? How embarrassing is that? Want to know why? It’s something called the 95-10 plan, which is a Democratic initiative. It’s a plan to reduce the number of abortions by 95 percent in 10 years. Now that’s a plan that’s not just lofty idealism. The way to get there is outlined in better education and helping those that actually need help so that they aren’t driven straight to abortions.
I could go on, but then this post would never find it’s end, so I’ll end there for now. If I’ve struck up any opinions on anything I’ve written, let me know! I’d love to discuss this further!
