Well not yet anyway, those that follow me know I'm having a baby soon. We thought perhaps yesterday but alas...false alarm. Darn you mother nature!
...anyway I've seen a lot of diaries about why folks vote Dem with encouragement to why they vote for the Democratic party. So I figure why not, honestly I had given it a few stabs before what with a few drafts sitting in notepad in the documents folder. But recently with the impending birth of my child it sorta dawned on me with what the subject should be the focus of the why I vote the way I do.
Join me after the bouncing orange bundle of joy for the explanation.
I'm having a girl and hopefully from Mom's intense pain and uncomfortable nature sooner rather than later. We had a false alarm yesterday but alas the contractions relented and she now sits in a chair a few feet from me relaxing while we watch Cooking channel. Well she watches and I'm writing this.
We have everything ready, or at least as ready as you can think you are when you are having a child. It's not our first rodeo, we do have a five year old so we've been down this path before. He starts kindergarten in two days as well, so what a time to bring in a new kid into the world. Suffice to say my life is going to get very hectic in the next week or so.
We've loosely coalesced around the name Saoirse Ivy. We're weird like that, what with naming our son Ronan. If you hadn't figured it out yet we have some Celtic history in us.
To the point though, I get far to long winded. Why do I vote for Dems?
I'm having a girl. I want her to have access to the same health and planning services her mom had access to, indeed I want her to have access to even more. I want her to have the ability to plan her family the way she wants and within her values. Indeed even if she isn't planning a family, I want her to have the same access to health programs to regulate hormonal control in the event she happens to have PCOS like her Aunt.
I worry about her future. We live in a state that is suffering under the drought and we may be looking at a 17% reduction in corn crops. This will result in increased food prices, and increased fuel prices. We know this is a direct result of climate change and with every sane scientist in the world now agreeing that such change is indeed our own human finger tipping the scales, I honestly only see one party interested in changing things for the better.
I have no clue what my son will grow up to be, perhaps a fireman, perhaps a pilot..teacher...or Ninja as he will respond if you ask him now. But one thing is certain, I want a world where should Saoirse choose to be a Ninja as well I want her to be able to earn the same amount as Ronan for the same work. Equal work for equal pay and I only see one party interested in ensuring that.
Even for Ninjas
I have no idea if my children are LBTG. I honestly really pay it no mind. If in the future my son comes home with a Steve or my daughter comes home with a Lilly, I honestly care not. "Are you happy?" is what I would ask them and then leave it at that when they answer the inevitable "yes". As they grow I would want them the same access to the rights my wife and I would have. I would want them to share the same access rights for disability, taxes, visitation, etc.. that I enjoyed and will enjoy in the future. I see one party with this interest in mind and it is the reason why I vote for them.
These are just a few of the reasons, indeed there are many, of why I vote for Democratic candidates.
Are all of them perfect? No of course not, but when we have a majority of them we can hold those middle folks feet to fire to get change done, just look at LBJ and the civil rights battle. He knew what would happen should they pass that legislation, but he also knew it was necessary and just. Another more recent would be the healthcare reform, was it the best thing we could get? No obviously not but we got it because we had that key word we loft around here "MORE" democratic candidates.
This is why in my state, Joe Donnelly is getting my vote. Is he my perfect candidate? No he holds some pretty odd positions when compared to a progressive like myself.
But at the end of the day, he is a dem and he is not someone who would drown your grandmother in the bathtub.
So I know some of you out there might be unhappy with the result of the party as a whole, but lets suck it up. We got a fight on our hands and the other side has telegraphed exactly what they want to do. And if we do not fight against that, even if it means swallowing our pride and getting out the vote for a Democratic folk for perhaps we don't always agree..well?
We sort have earned what our actions have wrought.
I encourage everyone to get with their state DNC and get connected. We need interns, we need phone bankers, we need foot walkers, we need bodies and we need them bad. If we are going to combat the money we are going to do it with people power. Lets take the model Wisconsin showed us is possible and template that state to state as Dean taught us works.
Vote blue, give blue.
ps, I'm off for bed won't respond till the morning. If it goes places, feel free to muss with the tags as needed. Hey who knows, maybe I'll get we'll get that baby out tomorrow!