51 Days into a Great Year

2008 is a very good year so far. I have healthy children, a bald hot boyfriend, a job, a roof over my head, health insurance and medical care, I'm about to be published, and, perhaps most importantly for the world as a whole, it's an election year. We are going to elect a new President of these United States. Thank God!

People who know me for even 5 minutes know that I'm a pacifist. I abhor war. There is nothing other than my children that I believe is worth killing for. Even then, it would have to be a situation where Ruby or Zane would die if I didn't kill someone and I can't imagine how that situation would come to be. I hate when I tell people this and they come at me with a lot of challenges to find specific alternatives to war in specific world political situations. Please don't mention the Nazis. The Holocaust was real and horrific and needed to be stopped. And I think what's happening in Darfur is criminal. Beyond the general recommendation for "diplomacy," I don't have any specific solutions. I am not a world leader, nor do I want to be. I want to elect someone who has those alternatives or can find them or will work with the people who will find them. How do Switzerland and Canada stay out of war?

I want to elect a President who cares about helping people, here and in the rest of the world. I want to elect a leader who will protect the rights of all our citizens, regardless of gender, race, finances, class, ethnicity, immigration status, sexual orientation, religion (or lack thereof), marital status, disability, children (or no children), etc., etc., etc. I want a leader who believes that women have a right to choose what to do with their own bodies, that war is not the answer, that Iraqi and Afghani babies are just as precious as American children, that stem cell research hurts no one and could potentially help millions (included me and others with MS), that people should be able to love and marry whomever they choose, that politics should not be a game that is won by the one with the most money, and that we should not be so arrogant as to believe that we always know what's best and that it's our way or the highway. It pisses off the rest of the world which makes us vulnerable to awful things.

I always wanted to vote for a woman on the presidential ticket. Maybe I will someday...but not yet. Hillary Clinton is not my woman. When I don't know how to explain what I believe or why I believe it, I love when a writer finds my missing words:

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/76107/

I believe that Barack Obama is the best option still open to us as the next President of the United States. Maybe you believe differently. That's ok. Believe what you want to believe. (Start your own blog if you want to tell the world.) If you don't know what you believe, do a little reading, and figure it out. If you're not registered, call your town hall and do it today so you will be ready in November.