My Political Stance ...

Wow!!! Suddenly I care about politics!!! Well ... it has been coming on over the past year, what with the 2008 presidential election and all surrounding it .... but I have never cared about politics with the scrutiny and attention and passion I seem to have for it now. I mean .... I paid attention before ... read the newspapers, listened to the radio, read the Yahoo Top Stories .... I have always kept myself informed .... but not like I have been since Nov. 6th 2008 .... and especially since January 20th 2009.

I have always thought of myself as a Republican .... but I never really understood what that meant. I am fairly conservative in nature .... but I also didn't really know what that meant politically.

As I watched the potential presidential candidates posturing and trying out their rhetoric and jockeying for position, I soon realized that not a single Republican Candidate stood for what I believed. The one who came the closest was Fred Thompson ... sigh .... but he just didn't want it bad enough at all ... dang it, Fred. So I didn't like the Republican candidates ... but OMG .... the Democrats scared me!! Hillary Clinton?? Osama Obama?? Breck Girl?? No, THANK YOU!!

So .... okay ... maybe McCain was the lesser of the evils of the Republican choice .... but he would not have been my choice. Texas didn't even get to comment on the Primaries. I did get a kick when Palin was chosen as his running mate! A woman??? What??? But she had several stances, fundamental right wing stances .... which I disagreed with.

So who am I? What do I believe? I have been thinking about these things a lot lately. I was recently accused by one of my friends of being an extreme right wing Republican. Hmmmmm .... I really don't think so. SO where do I stand? Well .... in no particular order ....

I believe in limited Government involvement in my life. National defense and basic infrastructure should be the major concerns of my government. I think that is a fairly core value of conservatives.

I am pro-choice .... I believe every woman should have the right to decide what happens with her body. I don't, however, believe that government should PAY for whatever any woman wants to do to her body ... especially when it comes to abortion.

I believe abortion up to 12 weeks should be legal ... anything beyond that .... wait six more months and use adoption.

I absolutely do not care if two women or two men want to get married and live together forever. I do not care if they want to legalize their relationship somehow. I know LOTS of gay people and ... they are just PEOPLE. I do not feel threatened if they want the right to share health care, or to be considered "immediate family" in an intense hospital situation.

I firmly believe in DETAILED Sex Education for our young teens. Abstinence simply does not cut it ... and Palin's pregnant daughter was the Poster Child for that fact!! Teach about STD's. Teach about pregnancy prevention. TEACH Health Class for REAL!!! This should NOT cost billions of dollars. Every high school student is required to take Health. Teach the real life health situations!

I am not overtly religious. I believe in God and I believe this great country was founded on a belief in God and I don't think ANYONE has a right to mess with that. Period. Be you Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Athiest, Buddist, or one of the million other religions in the world ... welcome to America .... but don't you DARE tell me what I can or cannot believe. In God We Trust .... and One Nation Under God is how it is ... and how it should be. Period.

I will sleep better tonight having written this ... I will probably add more tomorrow ...