Well as vaguely mentioned in the last post from my phone it was a pretty somber day yesterday. Diane's grandmother in England passed away Sunday morning. It wasn't a total shock, she had been declining for the past few years and had been put in a home.
I feel bad for my wife because she can't go over to say goodbye, her passport expired and she hasn't renewed it. Her mom heads back home tomorrow for 2 weeks. It sounds like this could be her final trip back to her homeland now.
The picture I sent via my cell phone yesterday was me just knocking around the house in the morning. It shows what I look like without any bells and whistles now after 2 ½ years of HRT. I look at it and see the changes, hopefully others do as well. If anything I think I look a bit drawn and tired, not surprising.
Lastly I wanted to discuss this stupid election, the views of my family, friends and peers. I am registered and tend to vote very conservatively (Republican). I vote conservatively because I do not believe in the fiscal agenda that the Democratic Party invokes. My views tend to be conservative on fiscal policies and a mix of conservative/liberal social views. In fact I actually fall under the category of "Blue Dog Democrat"
I believe in the right to bear arms,
I believe that the Govt shouldn't be dictating things like health care. (social medicine)
I believe spreading the wealth teaches people not to try hard.
I believe that if you are gay you have the right to marry your spouse. It's your civil right)
I believe that bills like ENDA should be signed into law to protect a class from discrimination
I believe that abortion is a woman's own right to make her own choices.
I believe immigrants have the right to come here to prosper (The legal way!)
I have a lot of mixed views and I embrace my views as my free rights as an American. Being the first in the nation primary politics are wearing on me in a very deep way now. What's bothering my now more than the fact that I'm sick of this election is that my liberal friends and peers talk about me like I'm stupid and cannot make up my own mind. I'm "Blind" or "I'm a sheep" or event hat I'm uneducated because I don't agree with Barack Obama and his socialist views.
I'm highly offended and hurt that my friends and peers think that lowly of me because of my "right to have my views" yet If I followed my friends then I truly would be a sheep, not the other way around.
I am of the belief that you will never find a politician that meets all of your needs, The responsible thing to do is to vote for a politician that stands for your most important views and the ones that you concede are the ones that you have to fight for.
I believe that progressive taxation is not only a bad thing, I think it is anti American. I think it is because it does nothing to give incentives for businesses to grow. Instead of raising taxes on the people making $250k and above, I'd rather see tax incentives for homegrown jobs. For every job brought back into the states there should be a break.
Being trans goes against the grain of being republican because the conservative parry doesn't support the gay community. I totally understand that and yet I vote repub, why?
I believe the fiscal responsibilities are more important to the country as a whole and that it is more pressing than something such as gay marriage. My peers may feel differently and that's not only fine, that's what American principals are and I can respect that. That is until I read or am told how bad of a person I am for my views which seems to be happening quite a bit lately.
There's a reason that I don't talk about politics and what's going on now is exactly why. People can't be nice, they have to be nasty to get their views across. In this I'm very bummed by the people that I look up too and I'm sorry that I don't live up to your high moral values. It seems lately everywhere I turn I barraged with poor opinions of who I am..
12 comments:
My condolances to Diane and you both. Bummer about the passport situation.
I think you have every right to hold whatever political views you do. At the same time, you want to make sure they're based on facts, not just strong feelings.
In Canada, we have a single-payer health insurance system administered by each province (health care is a provincial responsibility under the Constitution). That's only one part of health care, and in the US, it's the most vitally missing piece. It is completely separate from who delivers services and how. In Canada, hospitals are provincially run but private practices are just that -- independent businesses. Not very socialistic, is it.
Most civilized countries have a single-payer system, possibly with supplemental insurance, as Canada has too. These countries have various ways of delivering services.
Barack Obama is no socialist. The only socialists in the United States are way out on the fringe, and few listen to them. Obama is just a liberal Democrat.
I too support fiscal responsibility. I think everyone should. We haven't seen it under the current administration. The last balanced budget was under Bill Clinton.
Thank you for the condolences..
As far as socialized medicine, we have a great deal of experience with this from the english side of Dianes family. I don't like it one bit from the things i've seen in England.
Barack will not get my vote for many different reasons. I don't bleieve in his tax plan at all. And yes I do believe progressive taxation is a socialist pov. In part it is what collapsed the soviet union. There can be no good coming from penalizing someone for being successful, it sends the wrong message.
I didn't get handouts, I started with literally nothing. Diane and I started our lives in a furnished apartment in a crappy part of our city. I am where I am today because of hard work and not because of common wealth. In fact that is one of the reasons I left Massachusetts because of the taxation/spread the wealth mentality.
I would much rather see a flat tax rate but that will never happen.
Diane works for the Govt and I'm well aware if the waste that it produces and the fact that they never keep it in check. We don't need to spread the wealth, we need to reduce Govt spending..
I wanted to apologize for having written "civilized countries." I should have written "Western" or something like that. I was trying to avoid any loaded terms, but was unsuccessful (sleepy maybe!).
On health care, as I said, there are two parts: payment and delivery. From what I understand, the NHS is not the model anyone would want to use. Canada's system works well. I've read that France's system is one of the best.
I have a feeling you're going to get more comments. Can of worms and all that. :)
Honestly it wasn't designed to be a political post. The intent was basically all the bashing that has been going on. My views are my views and yours are yours. I do not and would never discredit you or call you names over that but sadly I've seen a lot of this lately..
I can't wait until the whole thing just goes away now
I'm so sorry to hear about Diane's grandmother, Karyn. My condolences to everyone.
As far as all of our political rants go, I disagree with you on a few items but agree with a few, too. Regardless of the differences I consider you a true American; you not only can list the issues that are important but also explain why you hold the views that you do. That is the essence of what makes our system work and I wish more of us would follow your example.
I've stated before that I'm not happy with "That One", but only because at the root of it I don't trust him completely. The complete reversal on FISA just after he got the nomination really hurt. But I can't vote for "The Other One" because...well, I trust him to hurt me more.
But you see, I don't trust EITHER party right now. Based soley on their voting records, neither party sticks to its principles any more. The Repubs have built the largest, most invasive Federal Government ever and the Dems, well, their Congressional votes have often been more aligned with President Bush than those of many 'true' Republicans...
I'm starting to wish for a Ron Paul/Kucinich (or vice-versa) ticket in 2012, but like the flat tax you mentioned it'll never happen.
Please, try not to take offense at the politics I might blog about. For me, trans issues are representative of larger discrimination issues in our country and as such, I feel compelled to do something about them. From a strictly political perspective, those issues are neither Blue nor Red. Correlations exist but they are based on cosmology and sociological connections, not political philosophy.
Even here in California, which matters little on the national scale, I'm seeing families torn by these issues. In a few weeks it'll be over. We the People will have decided, and we will get back to our wonderfully tiny little lives. I hope that at that point, not too much damage will have been done.
Thanks for the condolensces Sara ..
I do not take offense to anyones political views when done in a respectful way. So basically
you're fine, you've expressed your views in an educated way. Like I've said, I'm truly tired of the finger pointing and the name calling more than anything. That frustration was the catalyst for the post!
Like you I don't trust either candidate but I can honestly say that it has been that way for a long time.
If there was truly a Dem that wow'ed me, I'd vote for him so it has nothing to do with being staunch.
Gawd we need a revamped political system don't we?
I agree we'll never see a flat tax and honestly that would be devestating for my family because Diane would lose her job under that system. But at least it would be fair.
BTW I wish you a lot of luck on question 8, it really shouldn't be on the ballot. Civil rights should never be put to a vote.
I'm always opposed to ad hominems. Discussion should be about views, not about questioning anyone's intelligence or patriotism or any of the other crap that has come up in this campaign.
Our federal election campaign came and went in 36 days. The US one feels soooooooo long!
You sound like a creative political thinker. I tend to lean right on the social issues and left on economic matters. Let's keep our guns and traditional values but also be fair to working families and not just help big business.
Thats it! My mind is made up! Im voting for Tigger!
Great Nina will be sadly missed too :( I wish I had a chance to get to know her better
Sorry for your loss. My thoughts & prayers are with you and your family.
Thanks for the political post. I have very mixed emotions because I'm glad to see people getting involved, but I'm appalled at how polarized we seem to have become. I don't ever recall people being this divided. When it's all over, we'll all have to live with each other and that might be a lot harder after the many strong words from both sides.
I just hope that whatever happens, we don't end up the divided states of America. The only one who can defeat us is ourselves. We can't let that happen.
Nice to see you here Heather and thank you for the condolences.
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