4 posts tagged “obama”
Well, it's been a crazy week, huh? We just elected our first African-American president, America. Not to mention that he's the most inspiring politician who's stood on a stage in more years than I can remember (maybe my whole life-not exaggerating). And despite the record Democrat voter numbers in this election, those who don't and didn't support Barack Obama are really pissed off. Don't get me wrong, I've seen/heard "I didn't vote for him, but he's now the president, so I will give him a chance," but those statements are few and far between (and honestly, more credit than I was willing to give George W. Bush upon either of his "wins.")
However, those really pissed off people, WOW, they're coming out of the woodwork. As stupid as this will sound, I actually de-friended a few people yesterday on Facebook because of their offensive reactions to Obama's win. When George W. barely won his second election, I proclaimed he was an idiot, which is 1) an opinion (that I happen to believe is true) and 2) one that does not qualify as slander. The folks I de-friended on Facebook were being racist and bigoted and just downright ignorant in my opinion, which I told them, calmly, before I hit the "Remove from friends" button. The worst, by far, was someone who claimed that (in so many words) Obama would ruin all the hard work W.A.S.P.s (yes, he actually used that term) had accomplished in the world. He suggested Obama would do so through associations with terrorists and because of him being a Muslim. He also suggested we send Obama to the front lines of Afghanistan/Iraq to fight, like kings of old leading their troops into battle. Honestly, he lost me with that last one, but having had to see the inflammatory statuses this guy threw up all election season, I would guess that he meant Obama's lack of military service would mean he would be the first to get killed. I refrained from writing something very ugly and curse-word-filled on his wall, but only barely.
My own status was something like "Claire is recovering from election night celebration," and before I could even "remove" him from friends, he had responded with "why are you celebrating the downfall of our country?" Gah, ok, I didn't mean to make this whole post about Facebook, but my point is, there are plenty of people out there with whom I disagree. For the most part, I am perfectly willing to agree to disagree. But when you start making outrageous, false, threatening, bigoted statements, I have to draw the line. I can't even pretend you're my friend online. I can disagree with friends. I cannot associate with bigots.
See, I know exactly what I'm celebrating. I am a Democrat. I was raised to believe the governement should take care of EVERYONE, not just those wealthy enough to pay for government attention. I believe wealthy people should be taxed more; I believe our taxes should be put toward social welfare programs. I believe that when I move into a higher tax bracket, I will not complain about paying more taxes toward those programs, because I SUPPORT THEM. I know what it means to be a Democrat, so I can't stand when people who aren't try to "scare" me with Democrat tax programs. I am not an ignorant voter. I make it a point to know what I'm voting for. I am not scared of socialist medicine. Gasp! Yes, I know what socialism is, and I know what communism is, and I know what fascism is, and THEY ARE NOT ALL THE SAME THING. They are all very different forms of government, and I could write you an essay about them if you were my history or political science professor. Oh, also I know what Marxism is, so before you say someone's a Marxist, maybe you should brush up on that definition. I'm so tired of the lies and the ignorance and the bigotry. Can't we just move on, America? We've just made history, and already there's a big black mark on it.
Which brings me to the end of this rant: California's Proposition 8. California has 55 electoral votes and votes majoritively democrat. Yet, there are apparently enough people there, democrat or no, who think that the government should be able to regulate relationships between couples. Oh, I mean just homosexual couples. Heterosexuals are ok. It's the gays that can't get married. That's right. Excuse the cynicism, but there's no way I can wrap my head around this. We have been fighting FOR rights in this country since its inception. We've seen and struggled through suffrage and civil rights only to, in the 21st century, pass a goverment proposition that TAKES AWAY the rights of the free people of this country, based purely on their sexual orientation. I am, to say the least, utterly disgusted with those Californians that voted this into passing, and I think they (ALL OF THEM) should be terribly ashamed of themselves.
I can only hope, as this guy puts it, the fight is not over, and someday, we'll realize, as Americans, that we should all have the rights to live our own lives and we should HELP each other do so to the best of our abilities. That is why I voted for Barack Obama. Call me an idealist, call me naive, call me whatever you like, but I'm not ashamed to believe in change OR to believe that we as citizens of this country are capable of enacting it.
So, this past weekend, I ventured a few counties over with the boy and some friends to a neighborhood farm with a pumpkin patch, a hay mountain, a cotton patch and--AND--an eight-acre corn maze in the shape of a moose outfitted for hunting season, complete with rifle. I did not venture into the maze, as they intimidate me, and I couldn't tell if the maze were pro- or anti-Sarah Palin. However, there were these candidate targets that some Wise (no, that's their last name) family member had painted.
And finally, appropriately it seems, upon a large tractor, our gun-toting, abortion-banning, rape-kit-charging, tina fey-glasses wearing potential vice president (God, I hope not; my skin just crawled a little as I typed that.):
I'll try and think of something small and fun to do for the person who comes up with the most entertaining caption for this photo:
I generally eschew overtly PDP (public displays of politics), but like my BFF Katra, from whom I "borrowed" this video, I felt this was lovely enough to be shared. Enjoy.
