(Disclaimer: Very long post of 1147 words and counting. Please be advised to either a) keep scrolling and find a picture of broccoli underneath or b) wait until later when I post another garden picture, if you’re not at all interested in one college kid/feminist/eco-freak’s take on the Republican VP pick.)
I am in the most unfortunate position of having found the only group of people on campus that doesn’t care to talk about politics. Maybe not the only group, but indeed one of the few. I’ve heard a lot about Governor Sarah Palin the last few days, but absolutely no comments from the group I am most often with, try as I might to introduce the subject. Thus, Sunbeam Soapbox is going to have to deal with some of my political discussions and leanings.
My first impression of Palin as McCain’s choice of running mate was, “Huh. He picked a woman. This race is truly historic in every way now.” It amazes me that no matter which of the two candidates are voted in, the new Presidency will have broken out of the “old boy’s school” form of politics. There will either be a black man or a woman as vice presidency. Wow!
I’m also impressed by the idea of a mother in charge of a country. While motherhood is not a career I aspire to, I can respect how much dedication and patience it takes. Men in our society tend to have dropped the ball on fatherhood, and leave all parenting to the mothers, so that politicians have no idea about parenting. And government can benefit from the experiences of parenting I’m sure.
That said, the more I learn about Palin, the more I am horrified by her as a choice of running mate.
Now let’s step back a moment. First, a little bit about my political leanings: Yes, I lean to the left. Yes, I am a registered Democrat (though I’m not entirely sure if I agree completely with them—I just wanted to be able to vote for the primary). However, I think we can benefit from having a wide variety of parties and people/politicians that are open to new ideas and can form a more perfect Union from the varying ideologies. There are very few things I believe to be “evil” (I saw a shirt today that said “Ban A Republican”; I highly disagree that one party or the other should be banned or blamed or held as bad), and the Republican party seems to be stepping away from those platforms that I believe unacceptable.
The first platform I hold entirely unacceptable is this: holding the life of a fetus with more respect than the life of the woman carrying the fetus (/parasite). I am, as they say insultingly, pro-abortion. (Or pro-choice. Whatever floats your boat—I just want abortion procedures to stay safe and legal.) Most especially in cases of rape or incest, even so when the woman’s world is not conducive to bringing up a child in, and acceptable when all other methods of birth control have been exhausted and there is still a parasite growing in her. Yes, I am not a mother in any sense of the word, can you tell? Some women just aren’t mothers, and forcing them to be shows a deep lack of respect for half of the entire population. (As well as their unwanted children. I highly doubt we want unwanted children around. That just creates more problems.) That we still can’t respect people in general horrifies me.
And, of course, our lovely new VP candidate won’t even allow into her mind abortions in the case of rape or incest. I can’t even begin to find words for how disturbing that is.
The second thing I believe strongly in and can’t believe others disbelieve, is the existence of global warming. Now, I’m not here to tell politicians to TAKE MORE ACTION to counter global warming; I believe the process of politics at the moment can’t handle the problem of global warming and therefore go on in my own way and join movements of people that work to create change within their society, not government. But I want the politicians to stay out of my way, not make more problems. This Governor of Alaska favors drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. I didn’t even think that was POSSIBLE for the Governor of Alaska. I like to compare it to the idea of opening drilling along the California coast: I can’t imagine someone from California, someone who enjoys our coasts, that would favor drilling there.
Of course, they exist too. The mind boggles.
These aren’t the only reasons I worry about Sarah Palin as VP, however. These are only the issues I stand immobilized on.
I dislike that, because she is also a woman, she is supposed to attract the disillusioned Clinton supporters. I hope that all Clinton supporters with half a brain stay home rather than vote, if they dislike Obama that much: these two women are night and day. Yes, Republicans, you heard me right: one woman does NOT equate another. Woman aren’t a different species and do have separate personalities, just as men do. This just goes back to the reproductive rights argument— my god! We haven’t gotten anywhere have we! Women STILL are treated as subhuman! I need to brush up on my feminist movements.
As for her daughter’s current pregnancy proving that the youngest is Palin’s: so, uh, am I really the only person who still cringes when she thinks of poor kids with uncles/aunts only a few months older than they? as well as teen pregnancy? I am really anti-teen-pregnancy. To the point of nausea when thinking of the subject. Palin’s attitude, though, is almost as if we’re endorsing it. What ever happened to good ol’ no sex before marriage?!
(That was a joke, sorta.)
I read somewhere else that pushing your daughter into the spotlight is a really bad way of proving that your kid’s your kid. Read that argument for yourself.
We’ve opened a floodgate of information to a person I’ve never heard of before, and everything I learn worries me. Maybe I read too much from the more left-leaning press. But I can’t believe some of the things I’ve heard. I can’t believe that makes her a good candidate. I’ve heard people say, “I like her”, but not qualify why. Not even, “Oh, just a gut reaction” (which is most of my reasoning for supporting Obama instead of Clinton). I want to figure out what makes her likable, because I sure can’t figure out why in the world she was picked for VP.
As a final point, if I could write this much in half an hour for my first paper due Friday, I would be done in an hour. Why, why, why does the writing fail me in my academics?!!
Posted by Stephanie at 6:09pm
5 Comments »
