i welcome the optimism, but i am pessimistic about it...

[visionshadows]

This is going to be my only post on the election and what happened. I want to start off by saying I am disappointed. I am angry. I feel betrayed. However, I was prepared for this eventuality. Still, it hurt a lot. But what I really want right now, is for the Bush supporters on my friendslist to answer a question for me. And I want all of them to know that this is not an angry question. It's curiousity. I want to know why you voted for George Bush yesterday. I'm going to answer the question myself with why I voted for John Kerry yesterday. Open discussion. I ask that anyone who answers to be honest. I promise I won't get angry and I can only ask that people who might read these responses won't attack. I have a very liberal friendslist, but I have friends who are republicans.

So yes. Why did you vote for George Bush?

Why I voted for John Kerry:

1. Admittedly, I am a born and raised Democrat. However, that doesn't mean I don't cross party lines when necessary. I was all for John McCain in 2000. I shilled for Sam Katz the first time he ran against John Street. I think Rudy Guiliani is a guy I'd support. This time though, I voted along party lines because that's how I felt safer. I threw my support behind Kerry when he was given the nomination. I was pulling for Wesley Clark from the beginning and it was only after he dropped out did I even start to look at Kerry. But I supported him completely because I believe in the power of the democratic process and the power of change.

2. The war in Iraq. I don't believe that there were WMDs in Iraq. I don't believe that Iraq is the war we should be fighting. I believe in defending our country. I supported going into Afghanistan in an attempt to find Bin Laden. I support continued efforts to find Bin Laden. I don't support attacking a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on our country. I support our troops though I don't support the way some of our troops have treated prisoners of war. I don't believe the George Bush has a strategy for rebuilding Iraq nor do I believe that he has a strategy for getting us out of Iraq. I felt that John Kerry, having been in a wartime situation, had a better idea of what needed to be done. I also believe that he understood the threat of Bin Laden while Bush brushed Bin Laden aside to focus on Iraq.

3. Our economy. Unemployment is rampant. Highly trained individuals are unable to find jobs that match their skills. Our jobs are being shipped to other countries and corporations are given tax breaks for doing so. I personally work a job that is far beneath my abilities. I make $12.75 an hour and work a shift that keeps me from my friends and family because it was the only way for me to get health insurance. I still can't afford to pay all of my bills each month. I still can't afford to pay my car insurance. I wanted a chance and under Bush, I don't think I can get it. I would like to be proved wrong. I voted for John Kerry because I wanted a change. I wanted jobs for Americans. I wanted affordable health care. I wanted to feel like I can get ahead in this world without having to kill myself to do so.

4. I find the Moral Majority repugnant. I can't fathom a group that preaches love and Jesus and hates so many because they are different. I'm a Jew and because of that I have always been very sensitive to religious differences. I don't want our government to be a mouthpiece for the Religious Right. I don't want a government based in hate hidden as love. So I voted for Kerry despite the fact he is a Catholic, despite the fact he is anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion because he said that he would not impose his personal religious views on our country. And that is what government in a secular state should be about.


5. I am a woman. I believe in my reproductive rights. I don't think anyone has the right to tell me what to do with my own body. I am Pro-Choice though I cannot forsee a reason why I personally would have an abortion. But that doesn't mean that I have the right to tell the woman next to me that she can't either. I don't want a doctor refusing me birth control, refusing me treatment I need for reproductive health. I don't want to be told that I am a second class citizen in the eyes of our country because of my gender. I will still fight on this point up until and after Roe v. Wade is overturned. I voted for John Kerry because 2 maybe 3 members of the Supreme Court will be retiring in the next 4 years. Bush has stated that Souter (I think) and Thomas are his favourite justices, the two most conservative on the bench. He has tried to place extreme conservative judges on the benches of our country before. What makes the Supreme Court any different? Roe v. Wade is 2 votes away from being overturned. This scares the hell out of me and became the biggest reason why I cast my vote for Kerry. Let's hope we don't get sent back 30 years in women's rights after this election.

There are more reasons why I cast my vote for Kerry, but those are the big ones. So I'm asking the people who voted for Bush to do me the same courtesy and please tell me why they voted for him. I honestly want to know because I want to understand. I'm opening this post to the public, not just my friendslist. So please, please act like adults and don't attack anyone who answers and don't attack me for my views. I want this to be an open forum for discussion on both sides. If you voted for Kerry and want to say why, please go ahead. ETA: I'd like to know why you voted for whomever you voted for: Bush, Kerry, Nader, etc, etc. If you wrote in Superman, why did you do that? Etc. :)

I honestly want to know.

Comments

[rasputinaxp.livejournal.com]

non-secular means religious. :P

[visionshadows.livejournal.com]

[waves hand]

you saw nothing!

thanks. i was typing a bit fast there. ;)

[rasputinaxp.livejournal.com]

anytime

i voted Libertarian btw

[visionshadows.livejournal.com]

Can I ask why? I'm really interested in why people voted the way they did this time. Not that I wasn't interested in 2000, but this time I have a bit more of a forum to ask the question in. :)

And if you don't want to answer, I completely understand as well. It's a personal thing in the end. :)

[rasputinaxp.livejournal.com]

because neither kerry nor bush were the right answer to the question "what are you going to do to give me better personal rights?"

[visionshadows.livejournal.com]

Very true. Thank you for answering. :)

[claudia-m.livejournal.com]

I'm not on your friends list, but I stumbled through here so I hope you don't mind if I answer. I voted for Bush because I thought Kerry's plan for Iraq was unrealistic. While it would be great to have more international support (both in terms of troops/funding and in getting rid of the schoolyard bully image of the US), I don't think any amount of diplomacy/any administration would be able to convince the countries that don't like us as a matter of principle, are too busy with their own problems or are actually harboring terrorists to align with the US. And if he couldn't get the international support, I really think Kerry would bow to (media) pressure and withdraw all troops from Iraq. And while I feel that Bush rushed going into Iraq and that the next person from his administration who mentions WMDs should be slapped, I do think it's a pivotal part in the war on terror and withdrawing at this point would completely destroy any chance of us having a successful offense against terrorism.

If Kerry had a plan for Iraq that I thought was at all workable, he would have gotten my vote. In fact, of the people that I know voted for Bush (not including the staunch republicans who would never consider another candidate), Iraq was the deciding issue.

[visionshadows.livejournal.com]

I appreciate you answering. Thank you for telling me why you voted for Bush. :)

[summerbutterfly.livejournal.com]

I'm not on your FL either, but I voted for Kerry.

I voted for Kerry because my mother lost her full time job due to the No Child Left Behind act. She has 20+ years experience teaching, but lacked 6 class credits and they took her job away.

I voted for Kerry because I believe the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness applies to ALL americans, gay OR straight.

I voted for Kerry because I am a woman and I have friends that may soon be starting families. I don't want to lose these friends to birthing complications because abortion will no longer be an option.

I voted for Kerry because I wanted change. Because he may have not been the perfect candidate, but he was change. And we NEED a change. I have no health insurance. I won't be able to afford any any time soon.

I hear the questions about the war in Iraq, but what about America? How can we solve other people's problems if we can't even take care of our own?

[visionshadows.livejournal.com]

Thank you for answering. :)