Values Voter

I'm a values voter. There, I said it. Every single vote I cast, is based on values and values alone:

• I vote in favor of patriotism. Patriotism is loving your country enough to want to make it better; after all, nothing is ever perfect. Part of this love means being tough enough to be critical and skeptical - critical of poor decision making, critical of the truthiness permeating our society which seems to be stemming for our political parties and leaders, critical of how we as a nation behave on this planet we all have to share, skeptical of buying every line fed to us by politicians ... that lesson has been well taught by Bush.
  
• I vote for valuing the environment. Whether you believe it was given to us by a higher power or as an act of nature, it's the only one we've got and being wasteful and raping it is no way to show gratitude, or that you grasp it is a limited resource. Sometimes it's not only about making the most money you possibly can.
  
• I vote for leading by example. Why should America have different rules to follow than other countries? What makes us so damn special? Are we really that arrogant?
  
• I vote against torture. Not some of the time, but all of the time. Not just when it's easy to say we're against it, but particularly those times when it's hard not to give in. A few years ago, I would have likened saying one is against torture to saying, "I'm against child abuse." Of course you're against child abuse - who isn't? It saddens me to think this is where we've landed.
  
• I vote for the value of education - sometimes this means taxes get raised because I'd rather see less money being put in my pocket if it means a better future for this country.
• I vote for the value of fiscal responsibility, not giving tax cuts left and right while increasing spending exponentially. No wonder everyone in this country is in debt up to their ears: that's how the country is run, so why not?
  
• I vote for the value of tolerance and acceptance of differences, regardless of race, religion, gender, disability or ability, or sexual orientation.
• I vote in favor of free speech. I value the fact that we live in a country where you're supposed to be able to speak out against the president without being persecuted. Sometimes it doesn't work that way because some people seem to think there is a clause around freedom of speech that says, "except in times or war" or "except if you're a liberal" or "except if you point of the flaws of logic."
  

I'm completely sick of the conservative right-wing claiming the moral high ground. They have no high ground, nor do they show they actually have morals. This administration, more than anything else, shows that. This Congress shows that. The venom coming out of their hailed pundits on a regular basis shows that. Attacking Michael J. Fox for daring to show what people who have Parkinson's really look like when they aren't constantly trying to control their tremors? If your against stem cell research, it shouldn't bother you to see some tremors. Your argument shouldn't be weakened by reality. If it is, then you really don't have a leg to stand on. I'm sick of all the spinning and lies, the meanness and the sarcasm, the blaming and the bravado. I'm sick of it all.

Wouldn't it be nice if the media covered the actual issues rather than allowing themselves to be constantly manipulated? Wouldn't it be nice of the two parties started to spend time concentrating on coming up with ideas and solutions, rather than trying to smear the other side or gain a slight advantage by mailing out false information?

God, I hope Obama runs. I don't know if he can win, but at this point, the only time I feel hope that all is not lost for the direction of this country is when I hear him speak. He never fails to give his Republican counterparts full credit on the bills they've worked to pass together; he never takes an opportunity to launch personal attacks against those he disagrees with, yet he still criticizes policy that has gone awry; and best of all, I feel like he's telling the actual truth, not a strange version of truthiness approved by his handlers. Bush, and pretty much all other politicians left and right, could use a lesson in those values.