The antichrist?

I try to very rarely discuss controversial topics here - mainly politics. Not because I don't care, on the contrary -- I care so much that I can't calmly debate with people whose views are different than mine...yes, that's a character flaw.

This presidential election has me worried. I don't care for ANY of the potential candidates, and I'm not looking forward to choosing the least offensive. I will still vote, though, no matter what...even though my vote rarely counts in this country. I thought that would change when we moved to middle America, but look at our governor!! I digress...

Obama (or as I refer to him, potentially the antichrist) gave a speech the other day to address the race issue that has been brought up in this campaign. There is NO question that racism is alive in our country, and it shouldn't be an issue anymore...but, it is. In an effort to learn more about this scary person, I read his entire speech -- and I agreed with a lot of it.

He describes some reasons why discrimination and racism still exist in our country -- stereotypes that shouldn't have been allowed to take root have become truths, people have done things to make the stereotypes true. Some people feel that they've been treated differently over the years and they now deserve concessions because of that. Others feel they have worked hard all their lives and deserve the successes they've worked for. These feelings are felt by two different groups and it causes tension between them. Obama blames this on "a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many".

There's no doubt that some corporations operate unethically, but to blame the race issue in the U.S. on corporate America?? Come on! This just leads into his view that America should provide health care for everyone - even those who don't work to pay for it - by choice - and those who are here illegally. I do my part to help those less fortunate that me, but it's my decision and choice to do that. I have worked hard to become educated, find work, and support myself - to be responsible for MYSELF and my family. It irks me that because I've taken responsibility, I should be expected to pay for others and carry their responsibility as well.

Ok, I started out saying I agreed with his speech, and then I went off. I'll rephrase -- I agree that the race issue in our country is real and that not much is being done to correct it.

There are still racists living in all parts of the country. But, I don't think that Obama's speech, or himself in the White House, will be able to correct it. He has intensified the anger lately, so has his opponent Billary, and giving health care to all and putting a black man in the White House - simply because he is black, WILL NOT correct the problem either. Maybe his speech will cause others to think about things a little differently, and that won't be bad, but I don't expect some great change in our country to come about because of it.

There is one part of his speech that made me see red...and it was buried towards the end, after he had supposedly pumped people up with his "emotional and motivating" words (that's in quotes because I don't buy it). This one section of his speech is quite enough for me to NEVER vote for him (not that I would have anyway), but it really scares me about what he may do if he is elected. Here's the excerpt:

"This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned."

That part in bold is what I'm talking about. Can you imagine if we had sat back after September 11, 2001, and done nothing?? Can you imagine if a Clinton had been in command of our country when that happened, and we had DONE NOTHING? Do you really think we would all be sitting at our laptops happily reading and posting blogs if we had ignored the attack on our soil?? I don't think so! Our lives would be nothing like what they are now.

I'm tired of being at war, I'm tired of reading about young men dying, I'm tired of hearing that civilians are caught in crossfire -- BUT, this is absolutely what we have to do to protect our freedoms and the beliefs that this country was built on. It's gone on much longer than anyone wants to see, we've lost way more lives than we anticipated, it's cost us more money than we're comfortable with...but does that mean that we just stop?? If we stop, we give up. If we stop, we're inviting further attacks on our soil. If we elect a president who believes that all of our efforts have been in vain, then all those lives lost were lost in vain, as well.

Oh, and we ALREADY show our patriotism by taking care of our military personnel when they come home. We take care of the families while they're gone, we are so appreciative of the sacrifices that families and soldiers are making for us. There's always room to do more, but Obama implies that none of this takes place right now.

Whew. I must stop now, before my blood pressure goes up anymore. Obama scares the crap out of me, Billary - same thing, McCain? not my first choice, but what other choice do I have?

I just hope I don't have to move to New Zealand at the end of the year to escape the wrath.

As my hubby says, "Hold your nose and vote for McCain, or suffer 4 years of Billary's reign."