Now that she’s spoken

Here's why I can't support the McCain Palin Ticket.

There is two reasons, two very precious reasons why I have chosen to fight against this presidential ticket. In addition, it's not that I'm a devote democrat. I've been an independent voter for most my adult life. I have voted for democrats, republicans, socialist, libertarians and even Ralph Nader once. I even plan to vote to keep our republican senator in office this year. It's what McCain and Palin stand for.

My son is 15. I semi-tease him about what he will be doing after high school, suggesting that in the Air Force you can get some education, see the world and let your hair grow a little longer than the other services. If he were going in today, I would tell him to hold off. Yes, it's a dangerous world, but right now our government is playing a very dangerous game with our most valued asset. If my son has to go to war, I want it to be a just war. I don't want him to be a pawn in some narrow-minded agenda. It will be war we 'declare' in congress and a war that benefits the world just not just parts of Powerful America. I have a rational fear that John McCain is too much of a 'maverick' for world affairs and that every international crises will be met with his hammer before his olive branch. My father and step father where in Vietnam. My brother served in the current Iraq invasion. I myself saw the final days of the cold war sitting within artillery range of the DMZ that splits Korea. I never want to think my son sitting under fire from an enemy that shouldn't have been one in the first place. I do not want John McCain to sacrifice my son for another Hawkish Bush/Cheney expedition. With McCain's temper and ideological temperament that suggest to me that, he will have little restraint.

As for my daughter, now 7, she lost her mother to mental illness when she was not yet three. I cared for her alone, along with her brother for another three years before I remarried. I know how tough it can be to raise a family and work hard full time. I understand women and men do just that in this country just fine. I appreciate what Sarah Palin has gone through to keep her family together, happy and healthy. She should be cheered for her success; I rather relate. Her choices are her's to make. But I feel that she wants her choices to be ours also. Her views on family planning, sex education and abortion turn back the clock. Her perceived personal values and agenda put my daughter at risk. Palin would like to ban all abortions that don't seriously jeopardize the mother's life. So if my daughter is raped, she would have to carry the criminal's baby. How is that giving rights to my daughter and not giving them to the rapist? This whole right-to-life thing irks me anyway. Most (I mean 'an unknown percentage of'. My mom suggest I shouldn't use broad sweeping accusations; she of course is correct) the right-to-life proponents are also pro death penalty. How is it we mere humans get to make that distinction? They are also overly hawkish. How about when we invade a country and drop a load of bombs in a populated city? Is it a 100% military? NO, probably half mothers with children. But it's ok then. If elected, McCain and Palin will have the good chance to replace Supreme Court justices with those of theirs that favor restrictive rights for women to choose options for their bodies, their lives and their future. I can't stand and watch women be discriminated in that way. I can't allow that agenda risk my daughter's safety.

There's many other reasons I don't like this ticket. I'm sure you will hear more from about that, but these two major issues are what I'm most worried about. I worry because it directly involves the lives of my children. I take that serious.