Friday, January 4, 2008

This has nothing to do with Iowa

We are missing an opportunity here. An opportunity to talk about the presidential candidates in a more meaningful way than just categorizing them as the woman, the black guy, the Mormon, or the crazy one (that kind of applies to several of them though, in my opinion).

What’s gotten me fired up this morning isn’t the results of the Iowa caucus, it was a post I read on my local yahoo listserve, ashevillemamas. A discussion thread about supporting Ron Paul.

All I have to say is that any man – or any candidate for that matter – who comes out as pro-life will never, ever get my vote. It is an automatic deal-breaker. I don’t care if he supports home schooling and voted against the Iraq war. With pro-life politics, he’s waging a deadlier war – a war against all women.

So, look beyond Iowa and seriously consider your vote. Do a little research. Find out about the candidate for yourself. Make a decision on your own, without being influenced by who's waving a flag or flying a banner.

I guess posting a question on a listserve is one way to find out more. It just disheartens and saddens me that women in my so-called progressive community are supporting a man who says women shouldn't have the right to choose.

1 comment:

Johnny Lemuria said...

I have many reasons not to vote for Ron Paul. But his believing abortion is a bad thing is not one of them. The question is, what does a person believe, and what is a person willing to use deadly force (i.e., the law) to make happen. Nothing I have read or seen leads me to think Ron Paul would use deadly force to make abortion illegal nationally. At most, he might (might) cause it to devolve back to a state-by-state issue. And while that would be a Bad Thing, I submit it should not be a deal-breaker.