Costume Designer At Work

Frankly I am sad and disheartened that so many of my McCain supporter friends are acting out so angrily. Do all of you NOT realize that that is how more than half the country felt during the last two elections and we continued feeling that way for EIGHT YEARS? Take the defeat gracefully. The race was close. The two candidates handled themselves with dignity and grace last night. McCain's speech was eloquent. Obama's was inspiring. Just because someone is excited their state and their candidate they voted for are winning does not mean they are gloating. In my case it was a way to communicate with a number of people who were all online but not necessarily on IM during the results coverage.

There are a lot of people out there that voted for McCain and now are accusing those of us that voted for Obama for 'picking who is popular', or 'going with the cool vote', and even of making an unintelligent, uninformed decision!

So, I'm going to explain WHY I voted for Obama and NOT McCain. This post will be PUBLIC instead of locked. It's too important for everyone to let go of their bad feeling and move ahead in a constructive way with this country. We are ALL responsible for the direction this country moves from now on!!

And for the record, I did read both McCain's and Obama's official websites and where they stand on the issues BEFORE I voted.

1. I did not vote for Obama because he is black. I voted for him because he inspires me and I believe in him.

2. I like what he has to say about how he's going to address the economic issues. I do not expect him to solve it all and fix the financial crisis we are facing. But I do expect him to at least try and be honest about it. Sorry but Republicans typically have a record of giving the wealthy tax breaks - not the middle and lower classes who need them.

3. Education. His stance on education is also in line with my own views. It is one of the biggest failings of this country that our young people are not learning the very basics of foundational skills and information. It's embarassing that the most powerful country on Earth does not match the educational levels of other European and Asian countries - because quite simply, we should!

4. Healthcare. I believe in his ideas to reform healthcare. Quite simply our system is a mess and too expensive. It's time to get preventative health care available to ALL Americans and make the costs easier to bear. Being a freelance costume designer I pay 100% of my health insurance and for 5 years while I was in school and making the transition to a new career I had NO health insurance because there were NO affordable options for me.

5. The 'Wars'. Ok now this is where some of you are going to get angry with me. Quite simply the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were never declared by Congress. They are technically illegal. Also, it's time to leave no matter where those countries are in forming and maintaining their own governments. Too much money that could have been spent fixing our internal problems has been spent there. I am taking an Isolationist view and stance now on how America needs to be - we need to take care of ourselves FIRST if we are to help anyone else in the global community.

6. Foreign Policy. Bush destroyed our global reputation. Quite simply McCain is not the one to fix it. Our place in the global community is too important both economically and politically regardless of how we help (or go where we're not wanted). We need someone in office that is capable of extending a diplomatic hand to those Bush ignored, offended or angered. I like Obama's stance on poverty as well. We need to fight it here at home but that does not negate our responsibility to help those in need around the world with basic necessities - NOT WEAPONS or army training.

7. Honesty and Integrity. We've been faced with a secretive government that has been stripping away our private rights for 8 years now. Obama has pledged honesty and openness to the American people. I am optimistic that he is serious about this and will do all he can to take us back to the day when we didn't have to worry about openly criticizing the President or the government at large.

8. Guns. Ok another issue where some are going to get angry with me. I think there should be a ban. Plain and simple. This is not something I've discussed with any of you before because I do know how some of you feel about this. But there I've said it. No judgment on anyone who owns a gun at all. Just my pure and simple belief. And until the law is changed you surely do have a right to bear arms.

There are many more items he lists on his website that I also agree with but are would make this post a novel.

I also want you all to know that 3 months ago I was Undecided. Two of the reasons for my switch from McCain that actually spurred me to go and read both websites was McCains' plan to stay in Iraq and his choice of Sarah Palin. I'm sorry but even as a woman I could never vote for her for too many reasons to list here.

So now it's time to band together, give up the anger and hostility and work with the new President to make this country stronger and better.

I am sorry that some of you are disappointed but the facts of life are there can be only one and the American public has spoken! That's the beauty of living in a democratic society - we get a voice.

Tags: politics
current location: working at home in my apt
current mood: hopeful
current music: MSNBC Election News