You Tell Me...

Maybe instead of having a singular individual who runs our country, perhaps we could have a team of presidents, one from elected from each of the two major parties, working together. In this way, our "checks and balances" system would further protect our country from one individual projecting his (or her) beliefs on the rest of the nation.

You tell me...

Sarah Palin, first woman VP?

Recently there has been much hype around the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. This woman, now a conservative superstar, was chosen by John McCain as his vice presidential running mate. We as a nation need to determine who this woman is and whether or not she has the strength to be the second in command of our powerful nation. 

As for where she stands on the issues, Gov. Palin is a woman who has very rigid beliefs. 

A lifelong member of the NRA, Gov. Palin is a firm believer in the Second Amendment: She feels that we, as Americans, each have the right to bear arms. In June of 2008 she indicated that she would like to end the D.C. 32 year ban on handguns. It is frightening to me, to imagine a nation of gun holders. Of course, in fear of allowing ourselves too close to a totalitarian society, I believe we should allow our citizens to have the ability to access guns. But, by lowering regulations around gun control, we also heighten the likelihood of getting shot ourselves. By putting guns into the hands of everyday citizens, we are also putting them into the hands of the mentally ill and even our children. There need to be restrictions on who can acquire a gun and on what kinds of guns we put into his or her hands. 

To this woman, animals should be used for human advancement. She believes that we should be killing wolves while flying in airplanes, we should remove polar bears and beluga whales from the endangered species list so that they can be killed by hunters, and encourage timber mining, drilling and fishing.  She explains that her beliefs stem from the idea that population control is essential or we (humans) will become overcome by animals. Instead, she says, we should take matters into our own hands and destroy the other predators in our way, so we can eat them all.  What Gov. Palin forgets is that we, as humans, are the main predator on this Earth. We keep populating and expanding, destroying animal habitats. By removing polar bears and wolves, we destroy an entire ecosystem. If these natural predators no longer exist due to human methods of destruction, other animals, that would have otherwise been eaten by these predators, will over populate. What then? Will we begin using our rifles and handguns to shoot them, too? Will we begin displacing other predators into the area to compensate for the removal of the original habitants?

Gov. Palin also has strong beliefs in not changing the definitions of "family" and "marriage." She says that families are made up of a mom, a dad, and a loved child. I suppose, living in Alaska, with the largest cities having populations of less than 10,000 people, they do not have the same problems the rest of us do in the lower 48 states. There are no single mothers working sixty hour weeks at the Dunkin Donuts because they had a child (gasp) out of wedlock. No two men who love each other immensely who could create a loving home for a child adopted from another, starving country. It is not possible, in Alaska, that a child might be raped by a family member, get pregnant, and may not want the child. Palin feels that by teaching our children against "sinning" and instead using abstinence to fight unwanted pregnancies, we can help them only to bring God's loved and wanted children into this world. What she does not seem to understand, until recently with the announcement of her own daughter's pregnancy, is that as humans (animals!) we have needs and desires. Teenagers have sexual urges. This is a natural, human instinct. Instead of educating her children about what it means to have these desires, and how these desires lead to pregnancy, she tells her children (and wants to tell your children as well) to ignore these feelings. 

Who is this woman? How can someone who proclaims herself as "Pro-Life" also feel so strongly that we each have guns to kill one another with? How can someone who sees natural, instinctual (animal) sexual encounters as "sinful" feel so strongly that we should begin shooting other animals with rifles from airplanes? The more I learn about Gov. Palin, the more confused I become. Perhaps I am just a left-winged, liberal with crazy ideas of "Peace, Love and Understanding" but it scares me to think that this woman could be the actual Vice President of our nation.