Today someone who means a lot to me wrote and asked me some questions about who I’m voting for and why, with some specific questions about some of the current issues, and how my Christian views play into my decision.  I wrote a long reply, sharing some of my thoughts.  They are a bit random at times, and  I’m not saying all of them are right. Since I spent so much time on that, I thought I’d share some of it with you below, enjoy getting into my head a bit…now that’s a frightening thought:-)

It’s funny you are writing this, I was just thinking about these things. Hubby is more in tune with some of the specifics that you ask about, and when he is of the frame of mind will answer them I am sure. I hope you can follow this, as I re-read it, it goes on some tangents :-)

For a time, both of us were not feeling terribly excited about the election this year as each candidate isn’t quite what we’d (I’d) want. I’m concerned about the needy, and where the line should be drawn between personal responsibility and helping those in need. I see many Christians volunteering to do wonderful things, and think there should be more of that.

I always want to be a Nation that welcomes people to come to our country LEGALLY to enjoy it’s freedoms, and have always loved the fact that we have been a nation that embraced what is on the Statue of Liberty (*I copied and pasted below), yet it’s hard to know the enemy any more in this strange war we find ourselves in that has been brewing for a long, LONG time while we were complacent.

As for abortion, it is an extremely important issue, and so are all the other things. It’s just that there are plenty of voices on both sides for the other things, economy, etc., but only Judeo-Christians will stand up for babies forming in their mother’s wombs that are not yet born, so that may be why they are a voice for that one issue that wouldn’t be heard otherwise.

I was just today thinking about whether having a Christian -v- non as President mattered, and why it is such a big issue, I don’t remember it mattering that much when our parents were voting, except for the talk about Kennedy being a Catholic when he was elected, but I was too young to really understand why that was an issue.

At first, I just put the “Christian” part out of my decision, and listened to as many speeches by the candidates as I could. I came away believing McCain was the tough, yet in some ways gentle, type of person we need in office at this time in history because we are a Nation at war whether we like it or want to acknowledge it or not, and he will not duck and run, but face it head on. He has been refined by time and experience in a way Obama has not. We CAN’T take our guys out of Iraq sooner than is wise, and we need a President who will admit who the enemy is and face the enemy head on.

I want us to continue to be the Nation that helps other Nations by giving our lives for them, that is what we are doing, just like we did in past wars, as agonizing as that is……

It wasn’t until the confusing years of the 1960’s and the Viet Nam war, a war with a Draft, that we changed…at least in my lifetime…when we did leave before the job was finished and had soldiers who had given their all, and are were forever marked by it, come back to anti-war protests instead of an appreciative America. I have long believed it is the grown up anti-war hippies that are making up many of the philosophies of the democratic party…at the same time that doesn’t mean there weren’t any lessons to be learned, I’m talking about the extremes.

Yes, we wish we could go back to the days gone by when everything SEEMED fine, the days when Clinton was screwing around in the White house, or the days when Reagan was President and we saw the end of the Soviet Union (at least for a while), but that’s not where we are, and just voting for the guy on the other side of where we are now isn’t going to change that. The “present administration”, a term used often, is at a stand-still because of politics…the Democrats are the majority in the congress/house and holding up almost anything our Republican president wants to do, while they constantly speak against him.

Anyway, I digress, I came to terms with McCain as President…Obama simply does not have the experience, and there are to many things he says that I simply don’t agree with, and I am concerned about the brain-washing he received while in the church he attended.

Sarah Palin was a nice addition to the ticket, I like her, she is REAL, someone you feel like you could comfortably sit down and talk to, and she is a Christian, yes, yes, that is important to me. I’d be a fool if it wasn’t.

When I think of Bush, who liberals and some media have been brain-washing us to hate for about 8 or more years, I think of Moses….just because Moses lead the people, and was before God all the time on their behalf, it didn’t always guarantee “change” because people are stupid, we all want our own way, especially when the going is tough like it was wandering in the wilderness. God had to intervene many times with his judgment, and I wonder if we are seeing some of that today.

I have rambled…. Bottom line, at least for today, I’m voting McCain/Palin, I think that they are the people for the time that we are in even if I don’t agree with every single thing they say.

God bless, and God bless America,

[Me]

PS - I thought I heard not that long ago that the ozone layer was doing better, and the “hole” in it was smaller now? I don’t trust all scientists. Did you see the movie “Expelled” with Ben Stein yet?

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*The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

According to the Nielsen ratings, approximately 37 million viewers watched Sarah Palin’s speech last night, not quite as many as Obama’s speech, but very close for someone who is running for Vice President, not President.  Wow!

I’m curious to see how this is going to affect the polls, aren’t you?

Waiting on McCain’s speech tonight…

Here’s the woman that everyone was waiting to hear from telling it like it is in her own words. I am going to find the speeches by Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee and will add them later.

The attacks are out of control, and I hope an embarrassment to the Democratic party, as I can’t imagine they are coming from Obama’s campaign, at least I hope not.  If it is true that when you’re on the right side of things you can expect attacks, Sarah Palin must be on target!  But I am disgusted, how childish have people become?

I understand that John McCain and his campaign are very upset by all of this and have the following plans:

• A memo addressing the outrageous questions and false reports
• Ad coming out in her defense at around noon today.
• Press conference with female supporters of Sarah Palin.
• Press conference with Joe Leiberman and Eric Cantor, I believe, who will call on Barack Obama to condemn comments by Obama’s Florida spokesman that say Sarah Palin was a Nazi sympathizer.
• There is also a website that has been put up in her defense…I didn’t catch the URL but will post it when I have it….and there’s more to come in the days ahead.

Despite all of this, I think we have a Nation that is looking forward to hearing what she has to share tonight at the Republican National Convention.

This is new in the news, at least to me.  Sarah has an unmarried daughter who is pregnant, she will be marrying the father of the child. This is all that I know, but I’m sure more will come out in the days to come.

As a mother who raised a daughter, though she didn’t get pregnant before marriage, it is something all mothers think about, so I can understand how this must be affecting the family.  This is something that can happen to anyone, a private issue brought public by the fact that Palin is a Vice Presidential candidate.  I hope we can watch and see the positive way this is handled, and not destroy the life of this precious daughter through media bashing.  The challenges in life refine a person… this is another event in the life of Sarah Palin and her family that will bring understanding toward others who have experienced the same thing.

God bless this precious new life that is going to come into this world, and the family.

————–

Update later today…I have to admit I’m a little embarrassed that I even put a post like this on my site, adding to the many who are mentioning this issue…I do want to add in the Palin Family statement that was made later in the day, and then say no more:

“We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents…she knows she has our unconditional love and support.  Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child…we ask the media to respect our daughter and levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”

All indications seem to point to Gov. Sarah Palin of of Anchorage, Alaska…and as I type, FOX news reports it’s official!  More to come on this, but this is exciting…so outside the box…a woman, a conservative, a maverick like McCain, 44 years of age, single (oops, editing this, she’s not single) Mom of 5, child with Down’s Syndrome, pro-life, pro-family, from almost as far away from Washington DC as you can get in the US.

I’ll have more to share, but for now, this is the official word! Go McCain, another sign of what a maverick you are!