I’ve always seen myself as a fair-minded, willing to listen to both sides of the story sort of person when it comes to politics. I’m a registered independent, but, in truth, I’m actually a die-hard, liberal, bleeding heart who has a hard time even reading news stories that discuss the Republican party line. I haven’t watched the RN convention because I know I’ll be cursing like a sailor at every thing they say. Even this morning, when my husband said there are probably a lot of women who can relate to Sarah Palin, my response was “So fuckin’ what? That doesn’t mean she’s ready to be president.” (I should have said vice president, but I have the worse case scenario in my mind). I have nothing against Sarah Palin or John McCain or any other Republican politician. I’m a firm believer in biparitisan politics, and I realize the only way to push certain legislation forward is to compromise when necessary. The fact that Palin’s unmarried daughter is pregnant isn’t a big deal to me, but because Palin is a conservative, and I find conservatives to be incredibly self-righteous about their religious credentials (which tend to include a strong stance in favor of abstinence), and most work against organizations like Planned Parenthood (it could have done some good here), then the fact that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant becomes an issue (so she’s going to marry her boyfriend…I’m sure they’ll live happily ever after).

I feel strongly about this election, and I tell my husband that wherever we move to, we need to get involved at the street level, and be out in our sandwich boards, waving to cars and collecting donations, and convincing people why they should vote for Obama. But then I think about the person like me on the Republican side. Nothing I say is going to convince someone who agrees with the Republican ideology to vote differently. Just like nothing anyone says is going to convince me to vote for McCain—it has nothing to do with McCain and everything to do with the fact that I disagree with the party’s ideology. And those who are undecided will probably have key issues that will determine who they’re voting for. If they are anti-women’s rights, they’ll vote for McCain. If they are anti-affordable healthcare, they’ll vote for McCain, etc. etc. So then the act of knocking on doors and trying to convince people to see things my way seems futile, because I know no one is going to convince me to see things their way when it comes to the Republican ticket. Outside of throwing every spare dollar Obama’s way, what else is there to do? Am I being too cynical?