Roni on Politics

41% of Democrats cannot name even one Republican candidate for President. At least according to the morning DJs that I listen to. I didn't check it out, but I believe it is possible. The DJs proceeded to call Wallmarts across the country to see if they could get someone to be able to name just one Republican Presidential candidate. Their premise was that there is not better cross section of the country than Wallmart. While I agree that you could probably find a pretty good sample of both republicans and democrats among the shoppers at Wallmart, I'm not so sure you can say the same about the people whose job it is to answer the phone at Wallmart.

It took four calls before someone could name a candidate. The first person even said "I'm a democrat - I don't know anything about the republicans. What??? That's just wrong. How can you make an intelligent decision about a candidate without knowing all of the facts??

Aahhh - there lies the problem (at least as I see it). Most of the people who vote do NOT have a full understanding of the issues or the candidates. They are voting strictly on popularity or on party lines. I admit I've done that in the past. When I first started voting I would vote a strict republican ticket because my parents were republicans so that's what I was.

Over the years, I've discovered that there is not one party that agrees 100% with everything I believe in. Heck, there's not even one person who agrees 100% with me. My husband and very best friend comes close - but even we disagree on some things.

Opening my mind to the different issues has been sometimes very painful, sometimes very tedious, sometimes very frustrating, but always enlightening. Nobody likes to talk about politics, because they are afraid of offending or alienating their friends if they don't agree. Or they are afraid of letting their friends know just how little they really know about the things they go out and vote for. Either way - it's too bad that politics is such a taboo subject.

Very few of my friends share my views about politics, and I love to have conversations with them about it. I will openly admit when there is an issue or candidate that I know nothing about, and if I still don't know anything by election time - I do not vote on that issue or candidate. In the beginning, only property owners were allowed to vote. That would never go over again, but I sure would love to see a "pre-vote" test at all of the polls that you would have to pass before they could count your votes. The test could be pretty simple and still keep people who have no clue from actually casting a vote. It shouldn't be a popularity contest or a party line contest. We need people in office who understand the issues, know what they are doing, and are capable of keeping our country safe.

So where do I fit in the political spectrum? I'm truly and individual. I'm generally fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I love Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter, but I think they are both kind of whacked when it comes to "moral" and religious issues. I actually agree the most with the Libertarian party - except for one very critical issue and that is the war. I fully support the war on terror. I believe that it exists and I believe that radical Islam wants to convert or kill everyone who does not agree to convert. I think that the very most important thing for our next President to do is to continue the fight against terrorism and the countries that support it.

I cannot believe that the feminists in this country, including Hillary Clinton are not saying anything to protest the horrible way that women are treated in the Middle East. Not only are women treated as second class citizens with absolutely no rights, have their clitoris cut off as children so that they can never enjoy sex, forced to cover every inch of their bodies, but they are also stoned to death for the crime of being raped. I will fight to the death against anyone that tries to make me live under that type of "society".

That's where I stand and that is why.