voting...

thursday i voted early..
then i came home...sabrina came over...this is her first time voting...she had some questions about things on the ballot so she asked if i'd go over them with her...
we talked about things for about an hour...i did my best to show very little bias on any item...i tried really hard to present the pro's and con's of each thing we discussed...

one of the more intersting ammendments on the ballot this year was the "personhood" ammendment...it basically stated that once an egg is fertilized it becomes a person...you know..."horton hears a who"...a person is a person no matter how small..

politics is one of those things that either you get it or you don't...either you're intersted or you aren't...for me..i find great interst and appreciation at how hard people work to make their point or to throw you off point on any issue...
the "personhood" ammendment this year is an incredible example of what i mean....on the surface...really all the people trying to get this ammendment passed want you to believe is...they want a fertilized egg acknowledged as a person...plain and simple...and while i have no problem with this in theory..even though i still struggle with where i stand on the pro-choice...prolife issue....it turns out for me...this is such a deceptive thing ammendment...

first off...whether you agree or not...the supreme court has already ruled on the abortion issue...so if you are pro-life you're only choice is to find a way to make a law that basically would outlaw abortion without saying outright that's what it would do...unfortunately...the people who backed this ammenedment seemed to hope this one would squeek through without anyone noticing the ramifications of what declaring a fertilized egg as a person would affect beyond abortion...it would also make "in virto fertilzation" next to impossible...because generally during the process there is more than one egg fertilized and the eggs not used are destroyed...also...while there still has been no court ruling on "stem cell reasearch"....it would stop that also...
then of course there are medical issues that this ammendment would create a problem with such as a mother who is serverly injured in a car accident...and is pregnant...do medical professionals have to work to save a fetus no matter how small?....

in the end ...the ammendment would only mean these and more items would have to be worked through in the legislature...and that means...also ultimately the supreme court....

the ballot this year was filled with issues like this...issues that legislate behavior...sabrina and i talked about this in general...about how most people don't want their behavior legislated but want to legislate others behavior....so it's important as a voter to consider this and the general good when voting...and of course to be educated as to all the issues...because while we may not feel strongly about an issue...it may end up at some point in time affecting another issue we do feel strongly about...

it's no secret i voted for mccain...but i did tell sabrina that no matter how she voted..it was important for her to believe the person she voted for would do the best job...i told her how i chose to vote for who i voted for...i encouraged her to look at which party she believed in and what they stood for...and i told her it was no shame...to vote for candidates of different parties in the same election...and it was important as in life...to vote for someone because of their experiece both good and bad...not becaue of their age, race, sex and/or religion...

even though i didn't vote for obama i do see the good in his candidacy....more young people than ever are involved in this election..how can that not be good....and if he loses it could inspire many to become more involved earlier to change the process...and if he wins...well they could see how their vote worked or didn't work for the country in the future...

lily and i have had similar conversations..and of course my mother and i talk about this every day...it's been intersting....
and in two days it's all over...finally....
change is coming...good or bad...like it or not..
and one thing we can all agree on...
is..
it's about time...