So here’s why I don’t “fit” into today’s political paradigm.
I am pro-life…but not just anti-abortion. I am for all kinds of life. I am against most abortions, but I am also against the death penalty and euthanasia. It annoys the ever living shit out of me when pro-life is tossed around when people just mean “anti-abortion” and that people only see the unborn as those without a voice in today’s society and those who have a right to live life. (Note: A right to life also means a right to a quality life to me, not just a physical one.)
I believe in women’s choice and that women should have options for taking care of their body and that those options should not be more expensive because they are a women. I had to be on birth control to regulate my cycles when I had my first job at a Catholic school, and I had to pay for it out of pocket because the Archdiocese wouldn’t cover it and see that it was used for more than birth control. I had to have fertility treatments to have help having children. I want to live in a society where I am allowed to make those choices about my body.
I follow Jesus..not the Bible. I think about the people that Jesus spent most of his time with. Story after story in the New Testament is about him ministering to people who weren’t like him and who weren’t people in power. They weren’t popular. They didn’t have money. They looked different. They weren’t the norm. Yet, Christianity in America gets hung up on so many other messages in the Bible. We would all be better if we didn’t care about people’s race, religion, sexual orientation, hair color, clothing label, etc. We would be better if we could look at every human being and see a gorgeous, unique creation by God made in God’s image and likeness.
I support Black Lives Matter. I have spent two years living in the inner city, spending time with and getting to know students whose lives were nothing like mine as child. I saw the struggles that they and their families had. I saw how they didn’t know how to civilly deal with conflict. I saw how the city forgot them because they were not visible. I saw the lack of education, the lack of businesses, the lack of access to transportation, and a lack of care from the city and its people. I was privileged to be trusted with a glimpse of their lives, and it was a gift that changed my heart for forever. I am continually amazed by the students I had who have dug out of all of that. I am amazed by the strong black woman I have taught while living in Maryland, who also overcome prejudice and so many obstacles and live their lives with grace and strive to make this world a better place.
I am the daughter of a small business owner whose business went bankrupt and went from having his American dream to having nothing. I am also the daughter-in-law of a current small business owner, and I just started my own small business. I think the economic policies of the United States sometimes are there for the wealthy and those big businesses, and they forget about the little businesses struggling to make ends meet, pay for insurances, and who want to give their employees a living wage.
I believe in more universal healthcare. I have a mom who is dependent on Medicaid. She quit working to take care of my dad when he fell ill and sat by his bedside during the years that it took him to die. It is unfair that she worked so hard inside the home for us, had her credit smeared with the bankruptcy from my dad’s business, and that she lives paycheck to paycheck and Social Security check to Social Security check. She has to make decisions about what is more important: fixing her teeth or being able to hear. She shouldn’t have to choose. She should get access to care for both without having to jump through hoops. We need to find ways to take better care of our elders.
I am pro LBGT. I have friends, family, and military family who are personally affected by any rulings with marriage equality. Any reversal would break my heart for them. They should be able to love and marry whomever they want. Here’s my libertarian values coming out here…if it doesn’t affect you, why should you care?
I am a military spouse. I am way more educated on the military world than I ever thought I would be, and I care more and pay attention more to what is going on in the world than I ever thought I would. I fear when politicians talk about the military and nations abroad without knowing the complexity of the situations on the ground. I believe the Catholic teaching when it comes to just war. I don’t think everyone who joins the military is in it just to fight; many join as a way to change the world and be a force for good. I also think that we need to take better care of our military families and that we need a national certification program so that spouses who professional licenses for their work can stay certified every time they move.
I am Catholic but I don’t agree with everything the Catholic Church says. I don’t believe in being a single issue voter like some Catholics.
I am educated and have three graduate degrees. I have a TON of student debt and am required to have education for my job as a teacher, yet I don’t make enough to pay it off quickly and I don’t make enough to pay for childcare. I totally get the BS with so much of what frustrates people in the working class. I’m just lucky my husband is at a point in his career where I can stay home, that I have a job that allowed me a flexible schedule, and that I could start my own business so I could help supplement our income in the future. I know as long as I want to be a teacher, making a lot of money will not be part of the picture.
I have spent the last two years teaching World Literature to sophomore girls at a racially and religiously diverse Catholic high school. We have read about life in Afghanistan (fiction with A Thousand Splendid Suns and non-fiction with the life of Malala), the Cambodian genocide (First The Killed My Father), the whites taking over parts of Africa (Things Fall Apart), the struggles of the Latino working class and finding identity (The House on Mango Street), and the Holocaust (Night). Time after time, history has shown stories like those in America today. A group in power thinks that their way of thinking is the only way of thinking, and those who are different become victims because of their gender, color, opinions, religion, or ethnicity.
I am pro people and giving people a quality life, too. That means I think everyone deserves a quality education. I think that means we need to help people who are less affluent. I think that everyone deserves health care options. I think that we need to realize even our poorest poor are richer than the poor in many other countries and we have an obligation to help. I think that we need to help refugees seeking asylum.
I covered politics for my college newspaper, and I have never liked Hillary Clinton (or Bill for that matter.) I didn’t want her to win against Barack. I turned off the TV any time she spoke. While I loved the idea of a women president, I hated the way our country is getting unofficial royalty in the political spectrum with so many families dominating politics (the Bushes, the Clintons, etc.). But I voted for her because my other option was Donald Trump.
I am pro helping the poor and uneducated. I have been to Mexico and Guatemala on service trips. I have ministered to poor in our urban cities. I have ministered to Native Americans on an Indian reservation. I have worked with our rural poor. I have taught refugees online who live in other countries in the world and are doing everything they can to make a better life for themselves and their families.
I don’t think guns are bad but I do think that it should be at least as hard to get a gun as it is to a driver’s license. And that means some people shouldn’t be allowed guns, just like some people aren’t allowed driver’s licenses. And there are some types of guns that don’t need to be allowed. Period.
I think that our early childcare system and family leave system needs a complete overhaul. It’s cheaper for me to stay home with my kids to than to pay someone to watch them. And often, the people who watch our kids are barely earning above minimum wage. Employees should be able to have a longer leave time after having a child (whether it is the mom or dad who chooses to stay home), and employees need to be offered more flex time and flexible working schedules to be able to take care of children and elders.
I think getting out of my comfort zone, interacting with diverse groups of people, and exchanging ideas and dreaming about making the world a better place is important. It is part of why my family decided to make Maryland home instead of Missouri.
I could go on and on, but that you get the gist. I’m not Democrat or Republican, and you can see from my voting record, I’m evenly split in who I voted for in past elections. I would love for us to abandon these strict rules of two major parties and see more people run who have other mindsets and ideologies. Not everyone is a Democrat or a Republican, but when it comes to elections it always feels like your options are really this or that and a third party vote is wasted.
