The choices for this year’s president were difficult as both sides provided extreme options on major issues. At the end of the day, WE as a NATION elected President Obama to a second term. While I can tell you that I did not vote for Obama, I can say that I’m not entirely disappointed with some of the things that he brings to the white house. I am however disappointed in the way our Americans are treating each other.
What has been hard to digest is the mindset behind a lot of today’s voters. Not what they are voting for necessarily, but the vehemence in which they have voiced opinions. Earlier in the week I was slightly enraged by an article that was written and implied that anyone who voted for Romney and claimed to have a favorable position on Gay marriage was a hypocritical and indecent human being. While I do stand for equality, there were many other issues on the table that I am concerned about in addition to this one topic. The point of the article made it seem that unless you had gay marriage as your #1 issue, you were wrong. I quickly pointed out to the author of the article, the irony of defending someone’s individual rights and then taking exception on other individuals (who already agree with the issue), but have different priorities. The intolerance of accepting someone’s reasons to vote is contrary to what they are preaching. It was also interesting to see the same people (more than one) who gave praise to this article and then posted a “who should you vote for” poll that was based on an array of issues which could be weighted based on importance. That would imply that there was more than one issue to vote on, I suppose J
If this election has done anything, I hope it has made obvious to the 2 major parties that America is more down the middle of the road than the options they are given come election time. 50/50 would suggest that. It’s time for the representatives of this nation to listen to Americans and stop playing the game of getting their party elected. Let’s start working together, get this country on track and stop making it a battle between two extreme options. This election was not the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees, but it certainly had the same feel to it. The political banter between the two parties, false stories, items taken out of context, etc, should not have an impact on voters. People need to be smarter and not influenced by anything other than the facts, but that's not the world we live in. Politicians shouldn't be trying to "trick" the public, they should be trying to help us. In all honesty, we shouldn't be forced into two options. Yes, we can vote for other candidates, but there will never be an independent that wins unless there are some major changes in the system.
I don’t care if your vote is against what I want, but know the issues and how it affects your life. If you preach respect, then respect others rights to vote for something that you don’t agree with without telling them they’re idiots. There are some pretty wonderful people with completely different perspectives. It would be interesting to see how the country would vote strictly on the issues. Much like the tests you can take online which address the issues and then tell you which candidates you should be voting for. Instead of pulling the lever for a candidate, you pull it for issues and the right candidates would be selected. Wouldn’t that be an objective way to pick the best candidates? Isn’t that our real goal? We have that technology available to us. Oh and BTW....When is the last time your vote changed based on a negative add or lawn sign?
For those of you claiming you “won” the election, I have news for you. You haven’t won anything and you’re NOT on a different team. We are all Americans living under the same roof. As a friend stated earlier, we still have issues that need sorting out and a divided America. The goal should not be to gloat over winning an election, but to work TOGETHER to get this nation back to where it’s capable of being. In some respects, I think we have moved forward, but not without moving back in other areas. God Bless America and all that we’re capable of.
