How could anyone, especially a woman, consider voting for the Romney/Ryan ticket?
Now, yes I'm a Democrat who voted for Obama in 2008 and plan to do so again. But there were other Republican candidates who would have made the prospect of Obama losing much less terrifying. Jon Huntsman for one. Heck, he was even Governor of Utah and also Mormon I believe. Ideologically I disagreed with many of his campaign points but he did seem to be a very sincere and thoughtful man. He didn't give the impression that he would happily return to a feudal society and re-institute serfdom given half a chance! Colin Powell is a Republican that I would have no problem supporting should the Democratic candidate not appeal to me. It is seriously a shame he won't run. He is the most level-headed and diplomatic cabinet member ever to set foot in Washington in my eyes.
Doesn't the fact that he has blatantly lied so many times matter to anyone? He isn't even consistent about it. He tells every demographic (at least the ones he feels matter) what it is that they want to hear, even if it is a direct contradiction to what he said to someone else the night before. It's been on the news, the videos are everywhere. Don't people listen? If Obama had swung around so wildly I wouldn't be supporting him.
This is the point where Republican supporters start in on, well Obama said he'd do this or he'd do that and he hasn't done it. Well, no he hasn't done everything he wanted to do. First of all, some things take more than 4 years even with co-operation. When you consider that the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell publicly stated in 2010 that the Republican #1 priority political goal was to make sure Obama was a one-term president. Makes it hard to accomplish anything yet he has made major progress despite the opposition he has faced.
I can't say that I agree with everything he has done to date but I also, like the majority of U.S. citizens (despite what some of them act like), do not have access to minute detail of the decision making progress. We have way too many armchair coaches running their mouths!
But there are things that I do like.
1) Healthcare - it's not gutting Medicare or killing jobs or putting small business out of business. READ THE FACTS for crying out loud! Even those who will benefit from it are crying out against it because they either don't understand it or are just against it because Obama did it. It was just fine with many of them when Romney created essentially the same system in Massachusetts.
2) Women's rights to make their own decisions about their own bodies - the right to have an abortion doesn't mean YOU have to make that choice, just that you have an option if you find yourself in an unmanageable situation. A child born from a rape isn't "a gift", it is a child that some mothers would not be able to form a bond. Sure it could be given up for adoption but would most likely become one of the 130,000 children waiting up to 7 years in the foster care system for someone to adopt them because the American adoption system makes qualifying to adopt so difficult. There are 550,000 kids in the system, how much attention do you think they get? What about abortion necessary for the health of the mother? Despite what some politicians seem to think, it is a reality. I know. I had to make that dreadfully horrible decision myself. I developed a mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation, causing blood to flow backwards which made the heart overwork itself to keep going. Imagine walking, oh 15 feet, and having your heart start beating about 180 beats per minute and not being able to breathe. This can lead to heart damage and/or failure. My doctor sent me to a wonderful ob-gyn who kindly showed me the ultrasound picture (sarcasm intended) and explained that all I had to do was stay in bed for the rest of the pregnancy and everything would probably be fine! Being divorced and a mother to 2 girls already, that really wasn't an option. I did ask the doctor if he would mind paying all my bills and taking care of my kids until my delivery or forever if things weren't fine afterwards; he chose not to answer. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do but within hours of the procedure my heartbeat and breathing returned to normal and I was able to go home and provide for my children.
I have to add here, Dr. George Tiller performed the procedure for me as I lived
in Arizona at the time and was past their allowed gestational age. It had taken
over 2 weeks to find out what was causing my heart problems, no pregnancy test
had been done because there were no symptoms or missed periods. I had to cross
the picket lines and deal with that added stress on top of what I was already
dealing with but Dr. Tiller was a kind and compassionate soul who understood my
decision and helped me feel less alone and afraid. His death, excuse me, his
murder was a great loss.
3) Taxes -ending some of the tax cuts for those in the top 2% won't destroy the country or prevent job growth. Those cuts were made when we had a surplus in the government budget. We don't have a surplus anymore! 9/11, the war and the 2001 recession took care of that long before Obama ever took office. I don't even want to get into how the 2% got in on the cuts in the first place.
I could go on about equal rights for all Americans, not just the straight, male ones. How Romney was against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Oh and how about leaving emergency management to the states or better yet, privatize it. No better place to go for help in a hurry than the very place that needs the help! There are too many points against the Republican ticket as it stands. I fear deeply for this country and pray that progress and common sense prevail.
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