Election Day!

Well, this isn't exactly pregnancy-related, although I guess the outcome of today's election will impact my little one in some small ways.

I am one of the least political people you will find. Clearly, I did not pay attention and/or have forgotten 99% of what I learned back in those good ol' Government and Economics classes. I regret that because there is so much I don't understand. I also despise "fakeness" and people not being themselves or not representing their values just to impress others. I digress...

But how can you not find this year's election just a little exciting. One way or the other we are really making significant history here, something I feel like our generation hasn't seen a lot of. (We just haven't competed with WWII, JFK, MLK Jr, etc.)

The high school that I work at held a mock election among staff and students yesterday. With the students, Obama had a 30% lead. With the teachers, McCain had a 9% lead. Isn't that funny? I can remember participating in some kind of nationwide election in 7th grade where Clinton had a landslide victory among the students. The kids will always vote for whoever is younger, better looking, and more popular. :) There were kids cheering for the opposing candidates in the hallways today and I was tempted to ask if they knew anything about what the candidates actually stand for, or if the kids were rooting for them based on less important things.

I always feel a little frustrated by voting. There is just no way I can vote that fully encompasses my values. I am "conservative" (Which, by the way, is a funny way for society to label my Christian values. Come on, Jesus was the biggest radical of all time :) But I also value equality, standing up for the oppressed, helping those in need, and all those good Democratic things. However, I can't stomach abortion (no pun intended), especially these days, and I can't go for gay marriage. Sorry, God called the holy union between a man and a woman marriage. They need to come up with another term for their relationships. And we can't really afford to hand out much more of our income to Uncle Sam. Not with the state of things.

So where does that leave me? I go with my gut I suppose. I'd probably vote Independent but what does that count for? Actually, unless you live in a swing state, your vote doesn't matter that much anyway right?

And then there are my relatives who send out political emails. You know who you are. I have never seen so much fear raised by a single politician. I think that most likely Obama will win tonight but I'm not going to be anxious about it, even though I don't particularly trust the guy. God has it all planned out. He is not surprised or dismayed by anything. God will do what he will do, and he doesn't need our help. In our homegroup, we read over an old sermon of our pastor's last weekend. It was about Sodom and Gomorrah (sp?) and how the real problem wasn't sexual deviance. Shocker. That was only a symptom of the condition of the hearts of those people. Keeping abortion and gay marriage illegal doesn't change the heart of the nation.

Well, enough of my ramblings. Either way, it was about time for some excitement in this country...and hopefully our next President will be an agent of change in making some positive outcomes.