The Man Who Would Be President

With all of the name-calling, backstabbing, slanderous babble of late; you'd think we were in the middle of clique warfare among teenage girls.  But instead we are in the midst of the final (Thank God) campaign days of a Presidential election.  And this adolescent battling has infiltrated the rest of us, and we not only bash our respective candidate's opponent, but lash out at the humans in our lives who would vote for our candidate's opponent.  Is there any good to come of this practice?  I think not.

I was blessed to have been married to someone who was extremely involved with the Republican Party here in California.  (Now, my dear liberal friends don't vomit or throw rocks at me, and my conservative friends do not assume this means I'm on "your team"). Around this same time of being in Republican circles, I made friends with a very liberal woman (she was  a Green Party member).  What I discovered is that I often had more in common with her than some (not all) of my more conservative friends.  We both were involved with our kids' schools.  We both tried to feed our families healthy foods.  We both were concerned about mass consumerism and the affect that having too many things could have on our children.  This lead me to conclude that we can work better together in community than in the polarized arena of national politics.

So what does this really mean as far as the Presidential election?  Who is the best candidate?  Will the world as we know it come to an end if one person is elected over the other?  The answer my friend is I'm not sure.  But what I am sure of is that when the day is done, no matter who is elected, all we still have to really make positive change is each other.  And what I would ask all of you do is to take this into deep consideration.  And here's a link to a great movie called I Am http://www.iamthedoc.com/ that will help you get back to the basics of our humanity and greatness and hopefully break away from the jadedness of our multimedia, overpriced, anger and fear perpetuating political system.

So what our my thoughts on the candidates, platforms, ideas, etc.?  Here's a question and answer forum and how I would answer in a "debate":

1.  Is President Obama the Anti-Christ?  No, but neither is he our messiah.

2.  Does anyone who really aspires to be a good Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindi, or Buddhist want anyone to go without food, shelter, or healthcare?  No.

3.  If abortion were to be made illegal tomorrow would more baby's lives be saved?  No.

4.  Do we want to be known as the country with the highest abortion rate in the world.  No.

5. Is the world really a safer place without Saddam Hussein?  No, not for the U.S.

6.  Can Corporations just be balanced and fair by allowing the free market to go unregulated?  No.

7.  Should all people who make over $250,000 a year (in reality close to only $110,000 a year for single head of household) all be in the highest tax bracket?  No.

8.  Do we want to continue to purchase the high percentage of goods we do from China that are made through slave labor?  No.

9.  Are all people who are on some form of government assistance lazy?  No. (Some, yes, but I have been on some form of government assistance the last four years and I am very grateful that I paid taxes as an employee for 20+ years to have these benefits).

10.  Is it better for the world and our country to maintain peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan and Iraq at this time?  No.  (Please watch Restrepo http://movies.nationalgeographic.com/movies/restrepo/ if you don't get this, we have our men in a perpetual no-win situation).

I hopefully demonstrated that there are big ideas from both candidates that are positive and negative.  The implementation concepts are murky and determined by party politics and what legislation can get through a mixed and disagreeable congress.  So how do I decide who to vote for?  Well, I want to look at the integrity of the candidate as far as their honesty and intention to do what they say they are going to do.  Then, I want to look at their philosophy as far as believing in policies that are really good for me and my neighbors, and therefore our country.  It still can be tough to writhe through all of the negative propaganda, but I ask that you try.

Machiavelli,a political philosopher from a few centuries past wrote that the "ends justifies the means". I don't believe it for a second.  So those of you that say that you are voting for the lesser of two evils, please think again.  If I truly believed my candidate was evil, than I would choose not to vote.  The "means" and the action to vote is everything.  I don't want the judgement or karma of voting for evil to fall on my head.

I personally have decided to vote for President Obama.  If you vote for Mitt Romney, I'll still be your friend and neighbor when this messy business is done.  If you don't want to be mine, well blessings to you on your way.  There is no "us" and "them".  We are all "us".  And that's Penny's two cents.