Can I Depend on Your Vote?

Image Above:
Johanna Sigurdardottir; Prime Minister of Iceland

Many people have told me that their vote doesn’t see color, but does your vote see sexuality?

I’ve always found it interesting when people who I don’t know if they were seeking acceptance or approval by telling me they didn’t vote for President Obama because of race. I find it even more interesting of those who said they didn’t vote for President Obama, but it wasn’t because of race. I always think, if it wasn’t about race, why are you telling me that it wasn’t? Also, why is it that race isn’t attributed to White candidates as it is to everyone who isn’t? I’m not convinced by your words, but by your behavior and actions. It’s what you do and what you don’t do that is telling.

Beyond race is the question of gender and sexuality in politics. This is where I want to rest my thoughts today. I use the story of Iceland’s Prime Minister as example in asking what matters to you.

The honorable Johanna Sigurdardottir became the Prime Minister of Iceland in 2009. Prime Minister Sigurdardottir who has children from her previous (heterosexual) marriage is the only openly gay head of state.

What I found interesting about this story is the proof of Iceland’s lack of anti-discrimination hypocrisy by never publicly making an issue of Johanna Sigurdardottir’s sexuality. I say anti-discrimination hypocrisy not insinuating to practice of anti-discrimination is hypocritical, because it isn’t. I fully support anti-discriminatory practices and policies, both public and private. What makes anti-discrimination hypocritical is when those who preach it do not practice it. For any anti-discrimination practice to be true, the philosophy must be applied to all, not some.

Perhaps American in addition to the rest of the world can learn a valuable lesson from our Nordic friends in terms of tolerance and acceptance. When our consideration is allowed to roam beyond the narrow confines we apply it in our political and religious applications, then we get to see the person for who they are above what they are.

For those who have said to me that they don’t see color, but the content of a person’s character, then this is an excellent measure of your sincerity or commitment to that by considering the possibility of a future President or Prime Minister of your country being elected by the content of his/her character and not the color of their skin, religious practice or sexual orientation.

It is only my opinion, but I would expect that if a future US Presidential Candidate was honest enough to admit they were gay, I believe the powers that be would demonstrate the truth of the American dream. Their hopes of freedom and equality will essentially be publicly voted upon by those who say they are.

What if a future President or Prime Minister was openly gay, would you vote for him/her?

Do not concern yourself with the social perceptions of others. I just want you to be true. Be willing to defend your response if challenged, but only challenge with respect and consideration. It’s not about your religious beliefs or political affiliation, but your position on the boundaries of discrimination.

Work Cited
AAP, “Iceland’s gay PM weds partner “. The Age. June 28, 2010 <http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/icelands-gay-pm-weds-partner-20100628-zfbd.html>.

Stop Pandering #$&* @!

I’m speaking specifically to Democrats on this one and those who calls themselves Democrats, but invite moderate Republicans or the traditional/real Republicans to consider this charge to.

As a supporter of President Obama and believe he will do an excellent job, BUT he can’t do that when we do not keep his feet to the fire as we did George W. Bush. Unlike George W. Bush and most Republicans in Congress today, this President thinks long term.

The Republican Party of today and its media arms in radio and television are diligently working not only to drive Congress off of the political fringe it’s currently on, but anyone who may validate their extreme invalid and unrealistic points of view. They, meaning the extremist within the Republican Party will continue their ridiculous opposition. Facts, reality, morality and truth are less important when it comes to their desire to control and posses’ power.

The minority within this minority called the Republican Party are just as silent as the Democrats who are now in the majority. You’ll be surprised how much we may actually agree. I’m not unreasonable. I can and have disagreed with Democrats on many occasions. I may be a Democrat, but I’m not extreme or anything goes.

But I say to my fellow Democrats and moderate/traditional Republicans, WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL. Stand-up and speak out for what you know is not right. I may be a Democrat, but I know that there are Republicans, who I like to call the ‘Real Republicans’ who are blown away by what their party has become. This is not the same party as it was many decades ago, but a carbon copy of what the Democrats were many decades before that. Now is absolutely not the time to sit on your hands and bite your tongue and be timid. Many simply talk loud, but are saying nothing and evidence they claim supports their theories are laughable, but their scare tactics are not funny, neither is your silence.

If you are what you claim to be Democrats then Challenge Their Ass or go away. Many will only give you more of the rhetoric if you allow it. If you don’t know the truth, then seek it out for yourself; don’t combat nonsense with more nonsense. If you know it’s wrong then say it. But don’t just say it, explain why it is wrong and give a solution. Name calling on both sides gets us no where. There are Democrats who are proving themselves to be just as ridiculous as many Republicans of today are proving themselves to be. Now is not the time to remain silent, unless you really are as unsophisticated of a voter as the extremist believe you are.

If you voted for a particular party, just because it’s ‘Your Party’ regardless if the candidates on top are making sense or not, then you’re an unsophisticated voter. If you voted for a particular candidate because the color of their skin, Black or White, then you are an unsophisticated voter. If you voted for someone because of their gender, then you are an unsophisticated voter. There is good and bad in all regardless of what their supporters may say. I love the Democratic Party, but there are elements of it I do not like. Just as I may oppose the actions of the Republican Party, but have little issues with some of it’s more moderate members. (You rarely hear me speak ill of certain people within the GOP who are moderate. Only the Karl Rovers and Dick Cheney’s of the party. I may speak kind of the more liberal members of the Democratic Party, but you rarely hear me reference them.) I’m not a Blue Dog Democrat, but I can play well with them just as I can the Hawks within the GOP, when they consider each other.

SIDE-NOTE: We shouldn’t have a Republican democracy, nor should it be Democrats democracy, but we should have democracy. I won’t go into a U.S. Government or History class lesson today, but my goodness what in the Hell is wrong with some of these people on BOTH sides of the aisle.

So I turn to you Democrats, because truth has basically written off the validity of many (not all) Republicans today. Democrats what are you going to do? What are you going to say? Or can I apply the stinging words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to you too when he said that “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Today my Democrats, Liberal and even Moderate Republican friends are silent. Silent in speaking what is true, fair and logical to yield to the noise that is erupting from the scared, the hateful, the unsocialized and uncivilized within the Republican Party of today. Is the Democratic Party the party of change or the mute big brother of the smaller, but much louder Republican Party?

Why I support the President is not because of race or ideology although I share both with this President. I understand what he’s seeking to achieve, but he is just an instrument. You are the change, Congress and the President is the vehicle to make that change, the judicial system are the enforcers of that change. Show you have the political and moral testicular fortitude to be the change that we believed in or just bend over and continue to let the extremist continue to… screw you, what were the Republican Party and the country as a whole up. Democrats, it is not the Republican Party that is the problem, nor is it the Democratic Party. It is what both are

So I end with this, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” What are you cooperating with?