Well, people, I'm writing for tonight. We've all weighed in on the presidential election, and I am saddened to report that Bush has won. Of course, you all know this by now, and most of you are probably angry at me for being such a political person. Before I go on as to why I am a Democrat, let me explain my life thus far...
I was born into a poor family. My parents traveled fairgrounds and I was destined to fail as soon as I was born. College looked hopeless for me and I generaly had a tough life. It got worse after my dad left and I was stuck in a single parent family, where that parent made about 25,000 a year raising two children. It was horrible for me, as every time I'd get sick or get hurt, I'd go without a christmas. My house burned down on christmas eve. I know what its like to go through what few of you go through, and I LIVE this.
Health care premiums? Insurrance? Minimum wage? They all affect me directly. I'm afraid for my life now, simply because we dont make enough money for me to truely become a success. I have to fight soley on the merrits of my intelligence, which it does not look like the country is so keen on rewarding these days.
I'm scared, because I've been refused treatment by a doctor before because my mother went bankrupt. I'm scared that I wont be able to stay at LSMSA, a school for the gifted, simply because we are around 500-1000 dollars above poverty line. If my mom takes a hit financially, I'm gone, and it saddens me immensely.
If you wonder why I am so political, remember my viewpoints on issues. I strongly believe agianst the government telling a woman what to do with her body. I strongly disagree with the republican position as well... the fundamentalist position on wars and the like. When it comes to biblical virtue towards enemies, they have severity down, but they have forgotten the second value of mercy, as someone else put it.
Want to know why I am so political? I have zero tollerance for changes to the constitution that our nation is based on. I resist erosion to civil rights that we have spent 70 years getting.. Roe v. Wade, Miranda rights, and the rest. I want to see America back in its stature as the true land of the free.
Everything talked about in this election affected me personaly. That is why I am so political.
It's not over yet, though, folks. Time still remains for this country to be steered in the right direction. We need to outline a plan for real family values, where families like mine are protected when they are literaly falling appart. I hear republicans talk about what they think are family values such as outlawing gay marriage and the like, when I suffer from erosion of family values that are much more common and much more disasterous to the "sanctity of marriage".
I listened to Barrack Obama again today, people. He's a great guy, I think he'll be the first black president of the U.S.A.. Maybe not.. but I support the guy all th way. He gave a mindblowingly awesome speech in the DNC earlier this year, and I have not forgotten it to this day. It still rings in my mind as the message of a new, stronger Democratic party.
We are not done with, we are not forgotten.
Fellow democrats, fellow republicans, fellow CITIZENS of America... I yearn for the day where we could all live in unity, respecting individuality, and prospering economicly, socialy, progressively. I look forward to the day we prosper and families ARE supported. I look forward to the day that I dont have to live not knowing what next month will bring to my family. A vote for John Kerry was not a vote against republicans. It was a vote FOR republicans, democrats, and all of America as a whole.
Now that Bush has won, I'm scared. I am going to be in the prime age for a draft and I will feel every whim of the economy. I'm planning on mastering in political science, but now I can not even be sure I'll make it into a good school. My money is limited and so I am basicly waiting to see how everything plays out. I'm dangling, waiting for a chance to escape this conservative prison of Louisiana.
Yes, I do ultimately want to run for office.. but for now, I just yearn for the chance to vote. Being 16 in this election was hard for me, becuase I was bankign so hard on Kerry's victory. But you know what... I still have hope.
I will leave you with one little part of Barrack's Amazing speech.
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Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America--there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
--- Barrack Obama, 2004.
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Dont give into fear, people. There is hope left. Life goes on, and no matter how bad things get, America has always had the potential to change. Let's make that potential a reality as we become the new generation of voters, eh?