Go #Vote!!

Showing how addicted to Twitter I am, I even put the hashtag in the title. ;) If you follow me on Twitter at @twisted_writer today, you're going to get sick of me urging people to vote. I did this a few months ago, with the primary and when my state voted on the ridiculous Amendment 1. I hope that I'm not hanging my head in shame tonight as I was that night, when the bill was passed. I believe it passed because people didn't educate themselves on the facts, on what that bill meant. It was advertised as a ban on same sex marriage, but NC already had that. This amendment ensures same sex couples can't even have a civil union, or that a heterosexual couple living together who chooses not to marry -- they also can't have a civil union. I don't know why people seem to feel heterosexual marriage is in danger. If someone else being with the person they love endangers your marriage, then you have far more serious problems. Everyone loses with that amendment as far as I'm concerned. But it's already passed and I pray that someday it is repealed.

ANYWAY :) The issue today is that I just want people to vote and have their voices heard, their opinions counted. The argument that neither presidential candidate is who you want to run the country is not good enough for me. So what? You still educate yourself and learn which one you think will do the best job. Otherwise you are letting someone else control your life by not speaking/voting for yourself. People have died for us to have this right. I have tweeted this before, but I urge everyone to check out the film Iron Jawed Angels. It's a vivid depiction of what women went through so that we could have the right to vote. They were arrested and tortured, their lives torn apart, but they did not give up because they believed in their cause. They fought for equality for ALL people. I feel that I honor them each time I cast a ballot and I certainly think of them every time I vote. In my younger years I may not have voted every time, but I make damn sure I do as an adult. We are Americans and this is one of our hard won rights. Even if you're a white man, someone still died for you to have the right to pick your leaders. No one has an excuse to not vote if they are of age and a citizen of our great nation. So get out there & VOTE!!!

As many of you know, I am a Democrat and proud of it. For a while, I wasn't going to state who I was voting for but ultimately I decided I should to get the word out. I did not vote for Obama in 2008, I'll admit. I wrote in Hillary Clinton. I knew she didn't have a chance but at the time I didn't think Obama would be a good president. Funny because now after four years of him in office, I think he's an incredible president. I'll admit I was wrong. Many have said he didn't do his job. But you have to know as messed up as our economy is, it's going to take any president longer than four years to fix it. Just look at what he accomplished. Most of the troops are home. Osama bin Laden is dead. We're on the road to recovery. I don't want that road to suddenly be blocked, or worse, we all have to turn back and go back in time fifty years. I want to keep my rights as a woman. If I need Planned Parenthood (and I have, in the past) I want it to be there. I want my child and others to be able to get a free book each month from Partnership for Children. If Romney becomes president, these programs will go away and that is incredibly sad. Personally, I would never get an abortion but I want to know that I have the choice. I want to be in charge of my body, not some crusty old white man in Washington. Just because I don't think it is the right choice for me doesn't mean I can say another woman can't get one.

I'll tell you a little story. When I found out I was pregnant with my beautiful, amazing daughter Adeline, I was single and had recently broken up with my boyfriend because he moved to another state. When I told him I was pregnant, he said he'd pay for me to get an abortion. I considered it. A baby was really going to cripple me financially. I wasn't exactly well off and still am not. So it seemed like the obvious choice. But I could not do it. I had heard the baby's heartbeat by the time I got up the nerve to tell him. I had cried tears of joy when I heard that boom-boom-boom. I could never end her life. BUT I considered it and I am not going to say another woman is wrong if she got to that point and knew she couldn't give her baby the life she/he deserved and ended her pregnancy. It is her right. She may have been careful, like me, used protection and still gotten pregnant. Some lives are just meant to be. She may have been raped. It's not up to us to judge. That goes to a higher power. So that's how I feel about abortion: it's not for me, but I can't say it's not right for someone else. I hope that you understand what I'm saying here. Not judging anyone and neither should you. Just get out there and vote today, if you haven't already. This election is going to change all our lives. Even if you don't agree with me, VOTE.

One more thing: if Romney is elected, I will respect him since he was chosen by the people as the President of the United States. If Obama is re-elected, we should give him the same courtesy. Name calling is never cool. We are (supposedly) all adults and the leader of our nation deserves respect, not ridicule. Even if I don't agree with him. Now, GO VOTE!!!!