Doesn't everyone look forward to this time? Every four years in the United States of America the political ads start running and every second piece of news concerns the race for President. Polls change every day, which means that the media can have a new story every day. A candidate says something that they think is harmless but one commentator interprets it as offensive in some way and boom! A scandal. It's gold. How can you not love it?
Ok, maybe that was slightly sarcastic but in all honesty I do enjoy following the Presidential campaigns unfold.
This year seems more heated than ever. The candidates are being scrutinized for every statement, every misstatement and every action. Then in come the Vice Presidential nominees. I touched a little bit on the selection of Sarah Palin in the last entry but I do feel there is more to be said. While she does appeal to the base of the Republican Party, others also claim that she appeals to women voters. White women voters to be precise. After the Republican National Convention the polls indicated that there had been a major swing towards the McCain/Palin ticket with white women. The idea is that her selection would appeal to supporters of Hillary Clinton who were still dissatisfied that she didn't make the Democratic ticket. I am happy to say that the swing only appears to have been temporary. I was very worried that John McCain's campaign seemed to think that women were so suggestible that they would vote for him simply because he had a woman on the ticket. Therein madness lies.
Palin's policies could not be further removed from Clinton's. Palin genuinely believes in creationism and thinks that it should be taught in public schools with equal merit as evolution. She also opposed abortion in all cases. That's right: all cases. If you get raped and fall pregnant, if Palin was in charge, you're keeping it. This seems to indicate a very blurred line between the separation of church and state which is supposed to be key to American government. Palin also, rather bizarrely for a woman, opposes Equal Pay for Equal work. Right now American women make roughly 77 cents for a every dollar a man makes. McCain's answer to this imbalance? That women need more education and training. Palin must be one of the most anti-women politicians that I have ever come across. As an American woman, it is imperative to vote for who will make things better for you, not who you can relate to.
Look at it another way. John McCain is a 72 year old, multiple time cancer survivor. I would never wish death on anyone but say that he was to die in office, that would make Sarah Palin the President of the United States. That would be a pretty dangerous situation. She appears to be years behind the rest of the Western world in her belief system and would bring that to Washington. Abortions made illegal in all circumstances would force women to seek dangerous and illegal means of terminating an unwanted pregnancy. The abstinance only sex education that Palin supports would lead to an increase of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Young people are always going to have sex, but without a proper education in regards to the risks, these things would all increase in numbers. The risk of that happening are not worth taking in my estimation.
Going slightly back to the abortion subject for a moment, I would like to bring in the title of this very entry: The Nature of Choice. Palin's teenage daughter Bristol (still in high school) has fallen pregnant. One can only speculate that it may have been a result of the desire to have sex (which most adolescents feel) coupled with an abstinance only sex education. That is, however, beside the point. The media have said that they will leave the issue of Palin's daughter alone, but the language of the press release about it leads me to think that maybe it should be talked about, if only from a policy standpoint. The McCain/Palin campaign released a statement saying that Bristol had made the decision to keep the child and marry the father. I am not judging Bristol at all, but McCain and Palin's anti-abortion stance does make their use of the word "decision" interesting. In order to make a decision, one must be presented with a choice. Sarah Palin would gladly allow her daughter to decide about her pregnancy, but would also gladly take that choice away from every other woman in America. If Bristol wants to keep it, I wish her all the best of luck. She has made a choice and I applaud that. It is choice that makes us free as a society, and the McCain/Palin ticket wants to take away that choice from American women. Something about that just seems wrong.
Ok, maybe that was slightly sarcastic but in all honesty I do enjoy following the Presidential campaigns unfold.
This year seems more heated than ever. The candidates are being scrutinized for every statement, every misstatement and every action. Then in come the Vice Presidential nominees. I touched a little bit on the selection of Sarah Palin in the last entry but I do feel there is more to be said. While she does appeal to the base of the Republican Party, others also claim that she appeals to women voters. White women voters to be precise. After the Republican National Convention the polls indicated that there had been a major swing towards the McCain/Palin ticket with white women. The idea is that her selection would appeal to supporters of Hillary Clinton who were still dissatisfied that she didn't make the Democratic ticket. I am happy to say that the swing only appears to have been temporary. I was very worried that John McCain's campaign seemed to think that women were so suggestible that they would vote for him simply because he had a woman on the ticket. Therein madness lies.
Palin's policies could not be further removed from Clinton's. Palin genuinely believes in creationism and thinks that it should be taught in public schools with equal merit as evolution. She also opposed abortion in all cases. That's right: all cases. If you get raped and fall pregnant, if Palin was in charge, you're keeping it. This seems to indicate a very blurred line between the separation of church and state which is supposed to be key to American government. Palin also, rather bizarrely for a woman, opposes Equal Pay for Equal work. Right now American women make roughly 77 cents for a every dollar a man makes. McCain's answer to this imbalance? That women need more education and training. Palin must be one of the most anti-women politicians that I have ever come across. As an American woman, it is imperative to vote for who will make things better for you, not who you can relate to.Look at it another way. John McCain is a 72 year old, multiple time cancer survivor. I would never wish death on anyone but say that he was to die in office, that would make Sarah Palin the President of the United States. That would be a pretty dangerous situation. She appears to be years behind the rest of the Western world in her belief system and would bring that to Washington. Abortions made illegal in all circumstances would force women to seek dangerous and illegal means of terminating an unwanted pregnancy. The abstinance only sex education that Palin supports would lead to an increase of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Young people are always going to have sex, but without a proper education in regards to the risks, these things would all increase in numbers. The risk of that happening are not worth taking in my estimation.
Going slightly back to the abortion subject for a moment, I would like to bring in the title of this very entry: The Nature of Choice. Palin's teenage daughter Bristol (still in high school) has fallen pregnant. One can only speculate that it may have been a result of the desire to have sex (which most adolescents feel) coupled with an abstinance only sex education. That is, however, beside the point. The media have said that they will leave the issue of Palin's daughter alone, but the language of the press release about it leads me to think that maybe it should be talked about, if only from a policy standpoint. The McCain/Palin campaign released a statement saying that Bristol had made the decision to keep the child and marry the father. I am not judging Bristol at all, but McCain and Palin's anti-abortion stance does make their use of the word "decision" interesting. In order to make a decision, one must be presented with a choice. Sarah Palin would gladly allow her daughter to decide about her pregnancy, but would also gladly take that choice away from every other woman in America. If Bristol wants to keep it, I wish her all the best of luck. She has made a choice and I applaud that. It is choice that makes us free as a society, and the McCain/Palin ticket wants to take away that choice from American women. Something about that just seems wrong.
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