My Precious Husband is, at this very moment, leafing through the voters guide. He started putting big black EXES through all of the candidates and measures he doesn't support until I asked him, demurely and respectfully, as always (ahem), if he would not do that so I can read about them too. He then amended his marks to smaller notations in the corner. My question at this point is: Can I actually go through this marked up voters guide and not be influenced by the profanities and exclamation points he has laced throughout? And if not, how much of my vote will be determined by the VERY STRONG and VERY CLEAR (and very well marked) opinions that my guy has. We don't agree on several topics in the political arena. There are just as many topics that we do agree on, and then several that I straddle the fence on just because I love how much it gets him worked up; for example, the President.
For Josh, there is simply no question about whom to vote for. For me, I have simply no interest in either candidate. It really isn't even a matter of the lesser of two evils. I can't say that either candidate is as evil as we, as a society, honestly deserve. But thank God - if you so choose - that life is not fair and we don't get what we deserve. What we need, however, is a whole different candidate than we can hope to see in this political environment. We need a Jefferson Smith. We need someone who doesn't have the first clue who his allies should be when he blunders his way into Washington. We need someone with courage, with sincerity, and humility. While I can't ascribe to Obama the sinister intentions that my Dad and My Boy would project, I see him as the impotent mouthpiece of a soft, ineffective left wing. And maybe Romney isn't as idiotic as some of his republican predecessors, but I struggle to stomach the talking head of the right wing, fueled by a religious subscription that turns my stomach. Can I allow my own personal religious beliefs steer my vote? If not then what does? Can I, in good conscience, vote for anyone that is looking forward to an afterlife of chauvenist bliss? Truth be told, I think that we are all basking in our mess and asking for a heap more of it instead of opening our eyes to make the necessary changes to support the kind of candidate that I could respect. I am the chiefest of sinners. I have coasted on the fatness of the land, refusing to consider the years of famine. I have chosen comfort over longevity, and pleasure over legacy. Maybe we can pick our way slowly and carefully back from the edge of the abyss we are staring into, but as we are now we blindly wallow our way closer to the precipice and expect some politician to build us a bridge before we fall. Not likely. Josh says I am pessimistic about the future of our country, that my outlook is bleak and hopeless. But coming from someone who knows, there is a beautiful, clean side to a fresh start, after all the struggle has stripped away the hardened exterior and newness gives us a chance to redefine who we are as a people. We've seen it from time to time - We've seen the heroes rise like the Phoenix from the Ashes to redeem us. We saw it after the depression when only the best and strongest men kept going, and during the World War when we fought for a cause that was real, was about humanity and something greater than human greed.Wow. That was a ramble. Not sure where it came from.
