I'm Going with Obama. | Sunrise Rants

My three year-old said this before I walked out the door this morning. ?I think he meant a sentiment more closely related to ?I?m leaving with Mom now,? but you never know with this kid. ?But, it inspired me, while?everyone?is out endorsing their candidates, I?d like to stop and endorse mine.

I?m going with Obama.

In many ways, albeit with a dose of romance thrown in, my family embodies the typical struggling family in this Post-Bush recession. ?We chose to throw ourselves into it, chasing a dream of living in New York City, which caused us to leave our jobs behind and yet fail to find the same level of gainful employment. ?Thus, we rented out our home, lived with family, leaned heavily on them financially, made cuts, cleared out our retirement, cleared out anything we had, and charged up our credit cards. ?We put off medical treatment and for a time went without coverage because it wasn?t in the budget. We made cross-country moves to find a place to live in which we had no ties to other than that, in this city, Houston, we could be employed and afford to pay our bills. ?We changed from dad being the primary breadwinner to mom, and dad, like many fathers, by default and without expecting it, because a stay-at-home who is now starting up his own business out of his home while he is taking care of two adorable children, who also happen to be the most demanding bosses we have ever known (and also pay the poorest).

We are a friggin? NPR cliche, a dream story to capture the recession in one tidy?sound?bite. Any trend in dealing with the recession you?ve heard about ? we?ve probably been employing that tactic as well.

And that said, I?m still with Obama.

I don?t believe he got us into this mess, but I believe he?pulled off the?triage, stopped the bleeding, and is working to carefully and thoughtfully pull all of us out.

I do believe we will get there. And I believe that the change he promised us was substantive and real, not a quick-fix or a band-aid but real healing for a young society that has still a lot to learn. We?re not that old of a country, y?all.

I believe that the Democratic party cares more about empowering everyone than the Republican party. ?I believe that the Republican party is facing a crisis because of racism,?misogyny? and ultimately fear. ?My understanding of the republican party is that people want to be able to make decisions about their lives and money based on their own values and?worldview. ?Fine. But, I believe they fear allowing others to do the same thing. ?My suspicion is that treating everyone equally and?empowering?others to make decisions contrary to their own beliefs scares the shit out of them. ?It then?becomes?important to control others decisions so that they can?t make?decisions?themselves contrary to their worldview? ?And that?s where the Republican party fails for me ? they want independence for themselves and freedom but not for anyone else. ?Better to take care of self than trust others to take care of you or to even take care of themselves. ?It?s a real gap in logic. ?I want freedom but my freedom means you don?t have freedom to decide this long list of personal, intimate and basic things?

In another direction, I believe the reason?they?don?t trust others to take care of them in return (i.e. trust government) is because they don?t take care of others in the first place, so why would they believe?someone?else would take care of them? So they hate, and you see it in crazy little spurts of racism and women-hating and immigrant bashing all the time. Of course not all Republicans are like this ?and I apologize to those awesome well-meaning people who call themselves Republican and do not hate but?and it?s a big but? it?s the ?but? I have to worry about because it ends up overpowering the rest.

I believe in the party that says it is committed to everyone and has that track record. ?I would like to believe in the basics of republicanism ? that if everyone can decide where to invest their own money, that it will all go to the right place, but I don?t trust the individual in that way. ?Why would Joe Anybody understand the complexity of what his enormous nation of community members needs? Or even fully his own local community? ?I work really hard and don?t have time to think comprehensively about where my money needs to go to support my community members. That?s why we employ the government through our taxes to specialize in thinking about us as a whole and focus on making the whole work.

Government is great. I can go home and rest knowing that my community is being cared for without my active participation on a daily basis. ?It would be overwhelming to me, a concerned and thoughtful citizen, to not pay taxes and instead take responsibility to decide how and where to invest my money. ?Do I pay the city for the roads? The school for the teachers? If I don?t have money, maybe I stop driving and home school. ?Maybe I return to a barter system so I can avoid working entirely. In that situation, chaos would soon reign and every thing would be pay for play and I would stop playing. ?I would also probably be forced to choose to invest in my own family over paying money to others. ?When push comes to shove, a mother will always shove. ?So in short, the ?government keeps me from being an asshole. Conversely, it?s also my job to keep the government from being an asshole too.

I believe the individual will take care of the individual and that the whole is responsible for taking care of the whole. ?We need a government that is looking out for the whole, not the individual?s right to not worry about the?rest? ?The individual does that just fine on his own. ?We need a strong government creating the best conditions for each individual to be empowered to make the decisions for themselves that are?appropriate?for them to make for themselves. ?We don?t need a government telling women they can?t do this, and people who love each other that they can?t do that, and immigrants that, although we use and abuse you, you can?t stay here without fear. ?To me the Republican party is about restriction of rights of others based on morals and religion and hate and fear (except wealth and guns) and the Democratic party is about allowance and evening the playing field. ?Just look at the news and tally the stories of hate and restriction and which party is behind each act. ?It quickly becomes clear and that?s my defense of this tirade, apologies to those whom it offends. Because this country is about life, liberty and happiness for everyone ? I?m with the Democrats.

I?m with Obama.

~

And for the record, the only voter fraud I?ve heard of is disenfranchisement. ?It is now well established that there is no actual problem of people trying to vote when they do not have the right to vote. ?The problem is that people who do have the right to vote are trying to vote ? at least that?s the problem for the conservatives, inspiring all these silly, hateful voter ID laws.

Rant concluded. Have a great day and please don?t fail to vote.

Source: http://sunriserants.com/im-going-with-obama/

anne hathaway Dexter Season 7 Ryder Cup 2012 Johnny Lewis pnc Honey Boo Boo yom kippur