Sunday, October 21, 2012

Take the election personally

Just got back from a week long visit to see & meet the "best grand baby evah". She is a sweet cherub who has won our hearts. So when it comes time to vote in this upcoming election, I also think about her & how this election effects her life. I know there is no perfect candidate out there, and I know the system is broken at best. But I also know I want her & others to have funded public education. I want her to have a balanced supreme court. I want all people to have access to the medical care they need. Civil rights, equal rights, and yes, already- I want the rich to pay a fair share of taxes- especially the commander in chief, who should be setting a good example. Stashing all your money in foreign accounts to evade paying taxes, in general is not OK, but while the USA is financially struggling is a "patriotic fail". To me, actions speak more than words-- Mitt cares about the US, but the caring ends when it comes to his personal financial gain.
But back to the list of things I want my grand baby to have-- clean water & air, a leader who will not trash the planet with reckless resource extraction, and failure to think ahead or think about environmental
stewardship. Once the strip mining, fracking, & oil spilling happen, it's awful hard to get the genie back into the bottle to fix it.

The State of Oregon votes by mail only. I have the ballot in my hot hands, and I am ready to cast my votes.
Of course I think about my needs & the fact I do not want the age of retirement to be 70 or 80 something (Mitt's way to save some bucks), & I don't want the government making  reproductive choices for me or the grand baby. I want Planned Parenthood fully funded, and I think Big Bird & Sesame Street are a good long term investment (educational programming- free to the public).
 For many reasons, voting against Mitt Romney makes so much sense.



3 comments:

Life As I Know It Now said...

We do owe it to our grandchildren to not vote republican!!!

Christopher said...

What an adorable grandchild!

In Oregon you vote by mail only and don't go to the polling place? I didn't know this.

I'll tell you, I'm very nervous that one shitty debate performance could cause the polls to tighten like this.

I'm comforted that Obama is still favored over the Mormon by 15 pts and Obama is up by 5 pts in Ohio.

No Republican has won the White House if he fails to carry Ohio but like they say, there's always a first.

Truth told, I'm so nervous about the outcome of the election that I won't be watching tonight's third and final debate. I just can't do it.

Fran said...

Life: SEriously! Do it for the kids.

Christopher: She has won our hearts, that sweet grandbaby.

Vote by mail saves the state a bundle- they even have white ballot "mailboxes" just like the real mailboxes, in different locations where people don;t even have to pay the price of a stamp to vote.. & those boxes have security cameras on them to prevent tampering.
You can choose to bring it to election headquarters as well .

The really great thing about it is many of the ballots have already been counted in the weeks before the election, so when the first results are released after 8 pm PST, those early results often stick because so many have already been counted. Sometimes it is too close to call, or the counts can flip-- as the eastern/rural side of Oregon tends to be "red", but the major metro western areas, Portland, Salem, Eugene are solidly "blue" & have always been the majority.

I still think Ohio is key because it has so many electoral votes.

Safe to watch the debate.... I think the media hyped it up because look how much they make selling political ads, etc.
By now most people have already decided how they will vote.

The only thing holding me up right now is some local measures that are confusing.