at some point tuesday morning, it occurred to me that in 4 more presidential terms (interestingly, the number of presidential elections i have participated in), emme kay will be voting. i had to look it up, and her 18th birthday, november 7, 2028, will be a tuesday and an election year. pretty exciting.
justin and i got up early and took emme to the polls to cast our votes. i try not to get political on the internet, but i follow the issues very closely and have watched this election season with alternating fascination and disgust, and i feel like this is an historical occasion that warrants a blog post. i'm not that old, but i don't remember a time when everything was so divisive.
i hold deep convictions about certain issues. education. liberty. protection for those that can't protect themselves. the environment. there are others, but i think those are the biggest four. i believe that economic prosperity stems from a place where these issues are prioritized. when i look at an election, at our political process, i try to think beyond what my own life and my own current reality are. i try to think about the future of my children - what kind of world i want them to grow up in. what kind of people i want them to meet and know. i try to vote with my heart and with my head. it is not always easy to do. i cannot reduce everything i believe into one paradigm or the other - i don't even believe there are only two paradigms to fit within...i can only prioritize those topics that are most relevant and worrisome to me.
even harder than the actual casting of my vote is dealing with the other humans in the world and their discussions about all this voting, this political-ness. every member of my extended family, with the exception of maybe one, tends in a different political direction than i do. every one that i work with leans a different way than i as well. it's odd, but it makes me feel persecuted in some bizarre way. it also makes me feel like i have to be quiet and reserved about what i hold to be true and dear, lest family and co-workers think "differently" of me.
that is not a comfortable position, and it's not one that i relish. i think of myself as a convicted person who is willing and eager to stand up for what i believe in. but, in this time of facebook and sound bites, standing up for yourself is a quick and easy way to lose friends and alienate people. too often, if you even begin a politically-charged sentiment, people assume they understand everything about what you think and why you think it. i prefer to believe that we are all much, much more complex than that, so i try to stay out of it (publicly). i try to give people who write blanket (and false) statements like "obama is a muslim" the benefit of the doubt.
obama was never my candidate. i didn't love him in 2008 and i don't love him today. do i believe he is the best candidate available right now? yes. is the foundation of that belief incredibly complicated and impossible to reduce down to a single issue? absolutely. i worry about the environment - will the air we breathe and the water we drink be clean for my children and their children? i worry about opportunity - will my daughter(s) have access to the same jobs as men at the same pay? will they be allowed autonomy over their own bodies - free to make the choices that our family morals and values guide them to make, not confined to some edict issued by the government? i worry about the people we interact with daily - will they be educated? healthy? i feel a sense of brotherhood and compassion for my fellow citizens, and i also feel like the whole country is elevated when we raise up the "least of our brothers and sisters". i worry about the economy, but only as far as i worry about the deep political and philosophical divide among those in power. i think the economic system is far too complex and interdependent for one man to do much about - the world is different now, and we need to accept that and move on rather than hankering to policies that worked in the early 80s (or never worked at all). i worry most about education, since i believe it's the foundation of everything - will i be able to afford to send my children to school? will they have access to teachers who care? who are not just pawns in some ridiculous union battle? will college be affordable and attainable for them? for their peers and friends? i worry about safety - when money talks, how do those without it make people listen? children, single mothers, the elderly - who is looking out for these groups when the government is looking out for corporations? i worry about the rest of the world - we live in a completely different reality than what existed even 10-15 years ago...are we getting on board with that reality? are we set up for success and peace among the international community?
at the end of the day, these were just a few of the concerns that factored in to my vote. i'm glad that obama won, but i don't think he's the answer. i think there is a lot of work to do. i find it interesting that some of the political opposition have said that obama did nothing over the last four years, but simultaneously believe he is capable of completely destroying everything good and pure in the universe in the next four. one cannot be useless and all-powerful at the same time. i also think the hyperbole around the destruction of our country and the blatant misinformation from mainstream news media is terrifying. these are strange times, but i am hopeful that we can all take a minute to check our motives and our biases and decide to work together for the good of the whole. after all, i've got kids to raise in this great land...
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