The last post I will make on politics for a very long time

While I may have voted for McCain, I am very proud of the people for having elected Barack Obama. They believed in him, and because of it, they managed to elect into office a black president and an underdog. I feel like, sadly, in this day and age, there are a lot of countries that still just aren't ready for that. The American people have chosen, and though I didn't make the same choice as them, I am going to support their choice. I may not agree with some of the things he plans on doing and some of the things he may do, but if his decisions make the majority happy and help our country to prosper, I will not fault him. I will support Barack Obama in a way I never felt comfortable supporting George Bush, because he is what the people want. As Neil said, in politics, nobody is right and nobody is wrong. The government tries different things, and they sometimes work, and they sometimes don't. Now, let's see what the United States can do with an intelligent president!

Now, I want to respond to a few things that people have said, and then after that, it is no more politics for me for at least 4 years. Well, at least no more talking about them.

At first I was going to ignore the following comment, as it is not really worth my time. However, in the end, I was just too tempted by the articulate, well-thought out, and intelligent points of view within that I just couldn't help myself.

anonymous said: You are the biggest idiot I have ever seen. What is this supposed "dependence on government" that caused the financial crisis? Do you have any idea what caused the financial crisis? It was because of a lack of regulation. seriously. you suck so much.

First of all, you have never seen me. Or who knows, maybe you have - I certainly wouldn't know, given that you posted anonymously. If you have seen me, or we have seen each other, I hope that we are not friends. Because I would say that 99% of my friends disagree with me on the majority on my political ideas. But they are still able to respect and accept them, because they are just that - MY political ideas, that are well thought out and not just me following the crowd or believing what I think I am supposed to believe.
Second of all, I do know what caused the financial crisis. Do you? It is my OPINION that the American people do suffer from a "supposed 'dependence on government.'" I understand that most people disagree with me, and that is fine, and they are entitled to their own opinion. If you had actually READ what I wrote (and to be honest, I'm not so sure), you would understand that I was not saying that this was the cause of the financial crisis (although, again, I think I could speculate that, in my opinion, it did play a role in some of the things that acted as a catalyst for this crisis), but that, in light of the financial crisis, it's becoming even more of a problem and becoming even more evident that it is a problem. And that my opinion is that we need to do something about this and that, again in my opinion, Obama's proposed policies cause more dependence while, even again in my opinion, McCain's proposed policies help to wean people off of their governmental dependence.

I wonder how many times I just wrote "in my opinion."

In the meantime, if you have written something explaining something why you have voted for Obama (other than just Sarah Palin is a tool, which I agree that she is), I would be interested in reading it. Because it occurred to me yesterday that it was a little weird that I should feel compelled to explain to everyone why I made the choice that I did when everyone just accepted it if people were voting for Obama, never asking questions. As if they didn't actually need reasons other than - he is Barack Obama.

Okay, other things:
Health Care - I have been told that my view on healthcare is very harsh and unforgiving. And it probably is. Health care was actually one of my biggest concerns in this election, because I am so completely 100% opposed to it being socialized. I know there are many issues at stake other than education, but even if the United States were to put programs into place in order to educate people and to promote healthy lifestyles, I would STILL be opposed to socialized health care. Just less adamantly opposed. The fact is that, I don't believe that health care is an intrinsic human right. I don't believe that it is up to the government to provide it. I think that there are exceptions, in a sense, and that our present system (which is FAR from perfect and really needs a facelift) manages to deal quite nicely with these exceptions. You could argue with me until you are blue in the face, but when it comes down to it, my basic beliefs just can't have me supporting socialized health care, at least not in the US. Harsh. Unforgiving. The end.
(Did I mention that I no longer have a gall bladder because, while living in Canada, where socialized health care exists, a panic attack was misdiagnosed. Also how when I had a blood infection - caused by walking on a beach in a third world country with a cut on my foot - I was told at the hospital to go home because I was showing flu symptoms and they weren't treating flu patients. Luckily, I persevered.)

Next - I will retract what I said about Obama calling the soldiers war criminals if it is not true. A very long time ago, I remember reading that he said that and being shocked and appalled. If I recall correctly, my source was a very republican one, and I never bothered to do any fact checks. It's true that it doesn't make sense that he would say such a thing, and I really should never have even brought it up. Because the fact is - even if he did say that, I don't really care. From what I hear, the soldiers are up to no good over there, but something like that has nothing to do with the issues at hand. As Neil said, it's just "politics of distraction," and I feel bad now for even bringing it up.

Again responding to something Neil said, maybe I am idealistic, but even with Sarah Palin by his side, I believed that his changes were caused by election pressure and that, if elected, he would revert back to being the candidate that he was at the beginning of the election period. Because there is no doubt that he changed, and not for the better, over the course of the election. He wasn't elected, so I will never be proven wrong. :-P Although perhaps I was.

responding to things that Chip said:
The War - I hate war. I have always hated war, and the idea of war disgusts me. I wish that it were possible to live without it. There is no doubt that things are winding down in the middle east, and I agree that, at this point, we don't seem to understand that killing an enemy who is not afraid to die won't really accomplish anything. But I also understand that they want to slaughter us all. And that they hate us. And so I don't know what to do. But I do know that I think we should stay over there as long as it takes to bring the Iraqi government to a point at which they are capable without us of being a stable, democratic (or other) society. And to a point at which we will no longer have to be afraid they're going to hop on over to the US and do some mega damage. McCain wants to wait to leave until Al Qaeda is defeated. I don't know if we can realistically hope for this to ever happen. But Obama wants to slowly phase our troops out and then be gone and leave it to them to have a go at creating a working government. I don't know if we can realistically expect that either. But I do know that I fear less for our country with us there than with us gone. And that could be a fear based on ignorance. Because I only know what I'm told, and I am sure that is a lot less than what there is to know, especially living here in France.

Stem cells - my problem is more with using government funding to create human embryos and on human clone research. I don't necessarily think that stem cell research should be illegal, because I think it has the potential to do SO much good. I do think, though, that we should stop trying to clone humans (or anything cloning, for that matter). But for me, the real issue is the federal funding. On McCain's website, it is written:
Where federal funds are used for stem cell research, Senator McCain believes clear lines should be drawn that reflect a refusal to sacrifice moral values and ethical principles for the sake of scientific progress, and that any such research should be subject to strict federal guidelines.
And that's really how I feel. I hate knowing that my tax dollars go to support unnecessary and abusive animal testing. I wouldn't wish it on other people to have to pay for something to which they are morally opposed.
Although I agree with you - if it's a question of just throwing away unused embryos or harvesting their stem cells, it makes more sense to harvest them.

Okay, this was long. I also kind of fear that Obama's election was less for his merit and more for anti-Bush. I hope this is not the case. All we can do, though, is hope for the best and wait and see what happens. Obama is all about the hope, so hope is exactly what I am going to do.
And I am going to be glad that McCain was not elected and then immediately assassinated, leaving Sarah Palin as president. Because that would have been the worst of all outcomes.

THE END!!!! Let's talk about something else! :-)