This is how I feel on each of the issues that matters to me. I'm mostly writing this out so that I can vote for the person that I agree with the most. Because the party system drives me so bonkers. I hope that each person voting today will look individually at the issues that are important to them, rather than choosing party loyalty, which just creates discrimination and disunity in our country.
Gun Control. This issue is the most important one to me right now, and will probably be the #1 determining factor in who I vote for today. I don't want to take away your guns. As long as you are a law abiding, tax paying citizen who is reasonable in the face of crisis and is well-trained in the use of any firearm you own. It's true that if I had it my way, I would go back in time and make it so that guns were never invented. They are weapons of mass destruction designed to take life on impact, and I believe that they have done as much harm as they have good in the history of the world. For me and my husband, we have discussed many times that if we were held at gun point we would rather die than take another human life. We would never want that blood on our hands, and we believe that we would go to Heaven anyway, which is a lot better than here. BUT. I can't go back in time. And I know many law abiding, responsible gun owners who use their weapons for hunting for their own food and keep them on hand for self-defense, and I can understand that and admire that. I can acknowledge that there are good uses for guns. So I don't want to take away your guns, but absolutely I want to keep them out of the wrong hands. We have had way too many instances this past year of guns in the wrong hands. Long story short: I support common sense gun laws.
Healthcare. I've never really been outside of the United States. I've barely left Utah in my 22 years of life. I really don't know what the solution to the healthcare problem in our country is. But, I know that for my husband and me, it has been way to hard and way to expensive to get the care that we need, especially for our mental health issues. And I know that Medicaid has allowed me to take my baby to the doctor whenever I have had even an ounce of worry, without having to fret over the cost. From what I've read and seen, I think that socialized medicine could do a lot of good in our country. However, like I said, I don't think that I know enough about this issue to really defend my stance, but I do know that healthcare at the present time is not affordable enough or accessible enough, and I know that something needs to be done about that. And I applaud President Obama for taking a stand and doing what he thought was best for the healthcare reform in our country. Mostly, I care that the presidential candidate I vote for has a well thought out plan for healthcare reform and that they genuinely care about the issue, whether their proposed solution is the same as President Obama's or not.
Discrimination. To me, this issue is just plain annoying. Obviously men and women should be paid the same wages for the same job. And obviously they should be hired not because of their sex/gender identity/sexual orientation, but because of their qualifications. Sometimes a woman is less-qualified for a job than a man, and the federal government shouldn't require a certain percentage of men and woman in the workplace because then they are just adding to the sexism problem, but this time in favor of men instead of favor of woman. The most qualified human should get the job. End of story. Black lives matter and so do white lives and brown lives and Muslim lives and Mormon lives and atheist lives and gay lives and straight lives and republican lives and democrat lives and ALL LIVES. Citizens and police men should learn to be civil with each other and should follow protocols regardless of race, gender, etc. Gay people should be able to get married and churches should be able to refuse to marry someone if it goes against their religious views. YOU DO YOU, MAN. Stop assuming that because something didn't go your way, it's because you're discriminated against, and if you're the one doing the discriminating, stop that too. A human is a human is a human and we dang well better start treating each other like it.
Spending. Stop saying "We need to cut spending in this area that I hate but increase it in this area that I like." My opinion, cut spending a little bit everywhere and then learn to live inside that budget like most Americans have to do every day. Get creative, do what you gotta do. Ideally, eventually get to a point of no deficit spending, but obviously that would/will take many years. Finally, implement a flat-rate tax percentage. Everyone gives 20% or whatever. Get rid of outlandish deductions and loopholes. Stop making taxes out to be so complicated.
Abortion and Birth-Control. My religious view is that life begins at conception but I know that not everyone shares that view. One view, though, that is widely accepted is that when a person's heart stops beating, they are dead. What do you do when you think a person is dead? Take their pulse. No pulse? Start CPR. So I don't feel that there should be an argument that a specimen is alive once it has a heartbeat. That is how we determine life. So, before about 8 weeks when a heartbeat can first be detected, I support educating women and then giving them options like the Plan B pill and abortion (as much as those things make me sad and I hope that women will feel empowered to choose life even though other options are available to them). But once there's a heartbeat, sorry, that's a living thing inside you and so many choices have been made before now that your time to choose is up. There should be exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and medical emergency.
Education. Agh. This is one that I actually agree is complicated. To me a lot of issues are like "Duh guys." But education is just less cut and dry to me. Anyway. College should be affordable. 90% of tuition should absolutely stop going towards athletics and start going towards, you know, learning. Public school tests shouldn't be so standardized across the nation; teachers should be able to work more personally with each child and use their discretion to determine how well a child is doing. But like i said, it's a complicated issue, and like I said, spending needs to be cut everywhere. So we need to get creative with the education solution. And I don't think I know what it is.
So there ya have it. My political views. Love me or hate me or just mind your own business. But please, please, please, vote for a candidate who you believe will do what they think is best for our country, who will be a good face for our country (since that's basically what the president does anyway), and who you agree with on the issues. Blind party loyalty weakens our country.
In the end, love everyone. That's what Jesus, and every other awesome person ever, did. See the good in people. Speak kindly of others. Give the benefit of the doubt. Being the president is hard so maybe give them a break once in a while. Don't ruin relationships over things that don't matter (aka politics). In the end, all that really matters is people. ❤️
Gun Control. This issue is the most important one to me right now, and will probably be the #1 determining factor in who I vote for today. I don't want to take away your guns. As long as you are a law abiding, tax paying citizen who is reasonable in the face of crisis and is well-trained in the use of any firearm you own. It's true that if I had it my way, I would go back in time and make it so that guns were never invented. They are weapons of mass destruction designed to take life on impact, and I believe that they have done as much harm as they have good in the history of the world. For me and my husband, we have discussed many times that if we were held at gun point we would rather die than take another human life. We would never want that blood on our hands, and we believe that we would go to Heaven anyway, which is a lot better than here. BUT. I can't go back in time. And I know many law abiding, responsible gun owners who use their weapons for hunting for their own food and keep them on hand for self-defense, and I can understand that and admire that. I can acknowledge that there are good uses for guns. So I don't want to take away your guns, but absolutely I want to keep them out of the wrong hands. We have had way too many instances this past year of guns in the wrong hands. Long story short: I support common sense gun laws.
Healthcare. I've never really been outside of the United States. I've barely left Utah in my 22 years of life. I really don't know what the solution to the healthcare problem in our country is. But, I know that for my husband and me, it has been way to hard and way to expensive to get the care that we need, especially for our mental health issues. And I know that Medicaid has allowed me to take my baby to the doctor whenever I have had even an ounce of worry, without having to fret over the cost. From what I've read and seen, I think that socialized medicine could do a lot of good in our country. However, like I said, I don't think that I know enough about this issue to really defend my stance, but I do know that healthcare at the present time is not affordable enough or accessible enough, and I know that something needs to be done about that. And I applaud President Obama for taking a stand and doing what he thought was best for the healthcare reform in our country. Mostly, I care that the presidential candidate I vote for has a well thought out plan for healthcare reform and that they genuinely care about the issue, whether their proposed solution is the same as President Obama's or not.
Discrimination. To me, this issue is just plain annoying. Obviously men and women should be paid the same wages for the same job. And obviously they should be hired not because of their sex/gender identity/sexual orientation, but because of their qualifications. Sometimes a woman is less-qualified for a job than a man, and the federal government shouldn't require a certain percentage of men and woman in the workplace because then they are just adding to the sexism problem, but this time in favor of men instead of favor of woman. The most qualified human should get the job. End of story. Black lives matter and so do white lives and brown lives and Muslim lives and Mormon lives and atheist lives and gay lives and straight lives and republican lives and democrat lives and ALL LIVES. Citizens and police men should learn to be civil with each other and should follow protocols regardless of race, gender, etc. Gay people should be able to get married and churches should be able to refuse to marry someone if it goes against their religious views. YOU DO YOU, MAN. Stop assuming that because something didn't go your way, it's because you're discriminated against, and if you're the one doing the discriminating, stop that too. A human is a human is a human and we dang well better start treating each other like it.
Spending. Stop saying "We need to cut spending in this area that I hate but increase it in this area that I like." My opinion, cut spending a little bit everywhere and then learn to live inside that budget like most Americans have to do every day. Get creative, do what you gotta do. Ideally, eventually get to a point of no deficit spending, but obviously that would/will take many years. Finally, implement a flat-rate tax percentage. Everyone gives 20% or whatever. Get rid of outlandish deductions and loopholes. Stop making taxes out to be so complicated.
Abortion and Birth-Control. My religious view is that life begins at conception but I know that not everyone shares that view. One view, though, that is widely accepted is that when a person's heart stops beating, they are dead. What do you do when you think a person is dead? Take their pulse. No pulse? Start CPR. So I don't feel that there should be an argument that a specimen is alive once it has a heartbeat. That is how we determine life. So, before about 8 weeks when a heartbeat can first be detected, I support educating women and then giving them options like the Plan B pill and abortion (as much as those things make me sad and I hope that women will feel empowered to choose life even though other options are available to them). But once there's a heartbeat, sorry, that's a living thing inside you and so many choices have been made before now that your time to choose is up. There should be exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and medical emergency.
Education. Agh. This is one that I actually agree is complicated. To me a lot of issues are like "Duh guys." But education is just less cut and dry to me. Anyway. College should be affordable. 90% of tuition should absolutely stop going towards athletics and start going towards, you know, learning. Public school tests shouldn't be so standardized across the nation; teachers should be able to work more personally with each child and use their discretion to determine how well a child is doing. But like i said, it's a complicated issue, and like I said, spending needs to be cut everywhere. So we need to get creative with the education solution. And I don't think I know what it is.
So there ya have it. My political views. Love me or hate me or just mind your own business. But please, please, please, vote for a candidate who you believe will do what they think is best for our country, who will be a good face for our country (since that's basically what the president does anyway), and who you agree with on the issues. Blind party loyalty weakens our country.
In the end, love everyone. That's what Jesus, and every other awesome person ever, did. See the good in people. Speak kindly of others. Give the benefit of the doubt. Being the president is hard so maybe give them a break once in a while. Don't ruin relationships over things that don't matter (aka politics). In the end, all that really matters is people. ❤️
