Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Nail-Biter

Wow, I stayed up entirely too late last night, glued to the television and my computer, furiously refreshing the election results here in our state, Virginia. As it is this morning, the election is too close to call, with our guy, Webb out on top right now. However, there are still votes to be counted in the Northern Virginia's Loudon County. Until now, I really haven't said much about the elections, but in private, I've been following for weeks, secretly harboring the hope that the Democratic party would resume control of at least the House, and now, maybe even the Senate. It's a fascinating process, this whole democracy thing, and watching it actually work is simply amazing. There's nothing like a good ol' neck and neck political race to get the blood pumping. In fact, I find it way more entertaining than any football game or basketball game (however, if you're talking ACC basketball... um, yeah, that's a whole different ballgame). I think the process could use some tweaking, like maybe a paper trail for those votes cast electronically (our county didn't have a paper trail, which made me very uncomfortable).

As far as the other issues on our ballot (including an amendment defining marriage), their results turned out to be pretty predictable, and in fact, may be the only reason Allen did as well as he did in VA, as that tend to bring Evangelicals out of the woodwork. Personally, I feel that the issue doesn't belong in any constitution or law book. I'm tired of the Right legislating morallity, because honestly? That's such a personal issue... I don't like the state deciding personal issues for me. I won't even get into how hypocritical it is that we're "protecting the sanctity of marriage" when 50% of marriages (hetero marriages) end in divorce, and that number is much higher among evangelical christians. No one is out there campaigning against divorce in an attempt to "protect the sanctity of marriage". I won't even get into how Jesus said not a thing about homosexuality, but had some pretty harsh words to say for those seeking divorce. Or how evangelicals wanting to stop abortions need to focus on reducing the number of abortions instead of flat out stopping it. I think EVERYONE can agree we'd like to see that number go down, no matter what side you're on. And think of how much of a difference we could make if we took half the money spent lobbying the issue and funneled it in to education of women, to providing women much needed health care, to approving the FMLA and supporting it. Just imagine the difference if we worked on the issue of poverty by raising minimum wage (which, as I understand, is a moral issue, since Christ commanded his followers to take care of the poor).

Okay... deep breath Corinne. Step away from your keyboard.

All that aside, I'm dragging this morning. BUT.. Shepherd did sleep 11 and a half hours straight last night. Seriously... that's a record. Had I gone to bed on time, it's possible I would have gotten 8 hours straight of sleep. And as luck would have it, it was the one night that I just couldn't go to bed because I just HAD to know what was going on. And also? My mom is coming up to visit. I'm simply tickled pink to see her and spend 3 whole days with her. :) So if I'm sporatic the next few days, you know why.

Hope y'all have a wonderful day!!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I completely agree. Plus, people tend to over-amend constitutions. If you are really against same sex marriages, get a law passed. An amendment is the wrong place to do that.

Plus, the one here was sooooooo poorly written.

Go Webb! My vote DID count this time.

Anonymous said...

I am a Christian, first and foremost...

But believe it or not, I worked as a sex educater at PP as my senior year (in undergrad) internship for 4 months, full time. What an experience. I went in with an open mind (because most people would call me a "liberal" Christian) and I learned so much from that experience. I counseled girls who were getting abortions and it was so powerful to hear their stories- young girls who were raped, women with abusive husbands who were trying to get away, a cleaning lady who'd had 6 abortions. Then I worked on the education side, which I STRONGLY feel we need to do MUCH MORE OF!! Seriously!! Like you said, if we channeled half the campaign money into sex education, not only abortion rates would fall, but also the rampant problem of STDs!! Ugh don't even get me started.

Like I said, most people would call me a liberal Christian.

However, I don't believe "evangelicals" have a higher rate of divorce. From what I've read, it's an almost identical statistic to atheists. How exactly do you categorize an evangelical? A baptist? A born-again? A non-denominational Christian? What about other religions? Just curious.

(I'm not trying to debate or anything, just genuinely wondering)

Corinne said...

I'm actually using statistics drawn from southern baptist churches and those like it. I think the new wave of evangelicals is different... I'm mostly talking about old-school christians, stuck in the past. :) And as far as your experience... THANK YOU for sharing. It's nice to have a "face" (if you call blogging a face) to what I've believed all along about education of women. Thanks for your comments!!!

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