So I am a teensy bit conflicted about Sarah Palin as the choice for the republican VP. On the one hand, her stances on global warming (doesn't believe in it), evolution (is a creationist), and abortion (anti-choice) make her an automatic no for my liberal self.
On the other hand, it's pretty cool that there will either be a woman as VP or a black man as president come January. And then my mind blew a little further when it was announced that Palin's 17 year old daughter is pregnant and keeping the baby and getting married. The announcement emphasized how it was the daughter's choice to keep the baby. (I guess, in that family, her other option was adoption?)
And really, that choice is fine - I am actually not being judgey about Palin's daughter's right to keep the baby and get married. But ... what if you aren't the insulated by the economic and social privileges conferred by being the daughter of the governor of Alaska, and your choice is much starker, economically and socially?
So I was talking about the Palin choice with my parents retired, who moved out West and bought a handgun. So they are a good example of independent swing voters who could be induced to vote for John McCain. And Mom and Dad are both leery of talking politics with me; I don't know why, since I am pretty calm about it. I think they just know that we are on opposite sides of the fence and don't want a debate to get heated. Ever. We are WASPs, after all.
Case in point: when I told Dad about Sarah Palin's stance on global warming - I didn't tell him that her office had sued the Bush administration for putting polar bears on the endangered list, I just told him that she didn't believe that climate change was caused by humans - he agreed and said that he thought the earth has been through many changes before and it is probably going through another one and that reducing carbon emissions is, in all likelihood, going to just reduce carbon emissions and not change the path of the planet's climate. I didn't get into the science - lord knows I am not a scientist - I just said that it was okay with me to try to reduce carbon emissions just in case.
And that kind of defines my political stance on everything. I want abortion to be available for everyone, just in case they need it. I want carbon emissions to be reduced, just in case it does help. I believe in evolution (well, I am also an atheist, so that's kind of a no brainer.) I want to improve everyone's social welfare and future, not just my own. I'm not really under any illusions about living in a meritocracy - my nice life is the product of a massive amount of privilege, probably often at the expense of others, and what I want to do with my privilege is share it.
And I think that's a belief system, actually, which is why my parents and I are on the opposite sides of the fence. I believe that I got lucky, and that I have a responsibility to share that luck, no matter how unlikely it is that I will, myself, ever need an abortion and be unable to afford one, or how unlikely it is that serious climate change will disrupt the course of my life (probably won't).
My parents believe in a meritocracy. And that's why they are comfortable voting for someone who wants to take away rights** they don't really see themselves as needing any more (access to abortion) and who likes policies that could wreak havoc on generations to come (drilling for oil in Alaska.) Because they believe that hard work is rewarded, that terrible things are unlikely to come to pass and I ... just don't. Despite my own nice life and how hard I know I have worked to achieve it. I think it's pretty much like belief in god: you have faith, or you don't.
*Napolean Bonaparte
** mind you, I have no idea if my parents agree on this matter or if they are completely comfortable making these votes or if they will even vote for McCain. I sort of set up StrawParents for this post. I'm sure my real parents and not the StrawParents are weighing the options and see the possible loss of abortion rights as less crucial to the well-being of the country than, I don't know, tax cuts or whatever is appealing about John McCain.
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2 comments:
Did the StrawParents* in any way benefit from the GI Bill? Since benefits were only actually extended to white males after WWII, it seemed like a a merit-based thing, you know, a grateful nation. That women and minorities were denied their benefits was largely unknown.
*And let me just say, I love the use of StrawParents.
I don't think they did, but that was definitely their generation.
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