- I grew up in a politically divided home, my mother is a registered independent voter (as am I), but tends more towards Democratic ideals (as do I). My father, however, is a Republican through and through, and my younger brother follows in his footsteps.
- I was born and raised in Massachusetts.
- When I was in the 6th grade, my middle school "voted" for the next President of the United States. And as my mother will tell you, without hesitation, I was pissed when I got home that afternoon because Al Gore had lost. I was in a rage because all of my "stupid" classmates voted for Bush. How dumb could they possibly be?
- Which also means that on September 11th, 2001 I was in the 7th grade. I was only 12 years old. And that, I believe, is the most important thing to note.
- In 2008, I voted for President Barack Obama
So that leads me to tonight, to this all important presidential debate, the second of three. This was the chance for the president to make a statement and really be present during the debate, to make up for the, what I'm going to sum up as "lack of participation" in the first. So sitting on my living room couch next to my brother with my dad in his own chair, I watched my former governor and current president face off. And man, did that get heated. But what was most important for me, was not just the hostile atmosphere, being a liberal in conservative territory, but what was being discussed, what wasn't being discussed.
I sat through all 90 minutes of the debate (with only a few minor interruptions on my dad's part) and at the very end had some pretty big revelations. I realized that people my age, who were a huge part of President Obama's victory in 2008, had never experienced an economy that was thriving. Sure, I was alive when George Sr. was in office, and was definitely around for Clinton, but I was a little too busy working on walking and talking and going to kindergarten, and dealing with my baby brother. I didn't exactly have a lot of time to discuss political climates and the economy in between episodes of Rugrats and Barney. Which leads me to 2000, when I was in the 6th grade. That was my first REAL political dealing, I watched as the man my classmates "voted for" destroy the economy with war and with his own personal agenda. So when I was finally old enough to register to vote, you bet your bottom dollar I did. And I voted Democrat, because that was the only way to "fix" the stink hole we were in. Because we needed change. Craved change, even begged for it. And so we got it.
Since then, things haven't really changed (in my very humble opinion). And that's what was scariest about tonight because for the first time I really was forced to face facts and see both sides of the debate, of the issues, of the candidates. I have to give it to Governor Romney, he definitely made me think about what it means to change. I looked at my dad tonight, in-between his Republican rantings and told him I was scared of Conservatives because of George Bush and because of the social issues. And his response was, (in so many words) that the social issues matter, but not right now. Right now they are clouding the economy, because that is an issue. And he's right. But that doesn't mean I'm still not scared (mostly because I'm scared of a lot of things).
But it also made me think about my future plans, I want to go to graduate school. And to be completely honest, I have been seriously looking into going to school in England. Partly because it was wonderful when I was there, partly because I'm a single girl in her 20's with the world as her oyster, and partly, because I hate what the United States has become. I have become so sick of people not working hard for what they have. I hate being stereotyped as a "Lazy American". I hate that I am no longer proud of being American, that I wish to be another nationality, one with a bit more dignity.
So while I am still seriously considering my options and continuing my research for this election, I just needed to share my thoughts. I needed to empty my head of all of these things so that I could go to bed and sleep soundly. But mostly, I just wanted to feel like maybe I had inspired one other person to think about what change means, and what we need to do to create change. And as a disclaimer, I promise not to make this space into a politically-charged atmosphere, I just think that since I am in the process of overhauling my own life, lets look at other areas to improve as well.
So with that in mind, good night!
<3 Elizabeth
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