This is the first election in my life I can vote. It's also the first election in my life where my vote would not be against a Presidental candidate. I'm not a terribly big fan of Obama or McCain. Obama shares my views closer, but I hate hate HATE liberal fiscal policy.
That said... instead of voting against a presidental candidate... I'm voting against a VICE presidental candidate. The thought that Sarah Palin is an election and missed heartbeat away from becoming president scares me A LOT. Never mind her relative lack of experience. Never mind teaching creationism in science. Never mind abstinence only sex ed (if you have any questions about how well this works, look at her daughter. Her 17 year old pregnant unwed daughter.) Never mind banning -all- abortions, including pregnancies where the faetus get stuck in the Fallopian tubes... which is very dangerous (can be fatal) to the mother and practically never results in a viable child (in the history of recorded medicine... well, however long this is recorded, only one child in the history of the world has EVER survived a pregnancy of this type). I mean, how can you call yourself "pro-life" when you support banning a practice that saves lives (and support the death penalty, of course I support the death penalty too but I don't run around calling myself "pro-life" in the same breath) Sarah Palin is worse than a typical politician; she's perfectly willing to abuse even her own family to get ahead in politics. Show off your child with Down's Syndrome to show how family-oriented you are? Yep. Force your pregnant daughter to shotgun marry a self-proclaimed "f[---]ing redneck", AT AGE 17, so you look better to the social conservative base? Yep. Lie about who gave birth to the aforementioned Down's Syndrome child so the public can't say that your daughter got pregnant prior to hitting the age of consent? ...maybe, this one's a mere rumor but it wouldn't surprise me. She's on record as telling Bristol that if she were raped and got pregnant, she would be forced to have the child. WHEN SHE WAS 14. She's also on record as referring to Barack Obama as "Sambo", a racial slur that's not too much less degrading to blacks as the well-known one starting with "n".
And yet, despite all this, she's more popular with the American public than any of the other presidental or vice presidental candidates.
"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve."
~George Bernard Shaw
Also, who seriously names their eldest son "Track"? Seriously? That's a only a half step above "Neveah" and the same level of WHY as "Madison".
PS: Also I'll be watching this thread, first sign of it becoming uncivil and it's getting closed. It'll stay open for now because MB didn't close it yet.