feminist

On this, the eve of Election Day, I find myself wondering why so many people are still optimistic about the prospect of a Republican president. I mean, what more can they be permitted to do to the working people of America? At the rate we’ve been going, under a new Republican leader, we’d all be lucky to be able to afford bread, milk and toilet paper each week. What person in their right mind looks at the options and says, “Ok, I’ll take four more years of this. After all, I don’t mind putting money into a retirement fund that is sure to lose money. I don’t mind paying through the nose for everything I need to survive and I don’t really need to be able to save any money for the next four to eight years.”

I have had my doubts about electing Senator Obama to be our next president, but I have to tell you, it scares me more to think that McCain or Palin could ever be in a position of power.

It especially scares me to think about what could happen if Palin ever found herself in the big chair. She doesn’t appear to be wrapped too tightly. Though I don’t know her personally, her position on things like abortion and teen pregnancy (as evidenced by her own daughter’s situation) doesn’t impress me. I’m a feminist and although I like the idea of a woman achieving success, I have to say (and it pains me to do so) that some women simply shouldn’t have that much power. I hope that my fellow feminists understand me when I say that there are women out there whose agendas have not been set to further the status of women as a group, but to further nothing but their own selfish whims.

I didn’t see this in Hillary Clinton and I’m still disgusted that she wasn’t picked as our Democratic nominee. I won’t beat that horse now, though.

I will, however, keep plugging away at this notion. We all need to get out there and vote tomorrow. If you do nothing else productive with your time, please make sure that you go out and vote. It doesn’t take long and your input means everything. We have the power to make some very positive changes, no matter who we choose as our candidate. Although I would encourage everyone to vote Democrat on all counts, I know that we don’t all see the benefit in doing so. Perhaps you haven’t fallen upon hard enough times. Maybe, you’ve always voted Republican and you don’t easily accept change. Maybe the economy isn’t bothering you at all or maybe you’re still harboring some ignorant prejudices about our Democratic candidate that you simply can’t shake. Please don’t take offense, but we need to be rational about the state of our nation today. We’re in bad shape and the wrong choice (Republican) will only make things worse and worse over the next several years. They’ll keep chipping away at us until the middle class no longer exists. I don’t know about you, but I work too damned hard to let greedy politicians take it all away from me and my family.

I’m on pins and needles for now, waiting to see what the future will bring. I am hopeful that our decisions will be the right ones and that whomever we choose, they will lead us away from the chaos that we’ve fallen into. Though I’ve not completely decided to vote for Obama, I have decided not to vote for McCain. I do plan to vote for every Democratic candidate for the House and Senate, however, I’m still struggling with some of the negatives I have heard about Obama. When it all comes down to it, though, Obama definitely seems to be the lesser of two evils. Even if it is simply on the basis of the example that has been set by Republicans these past eight years. I have to admit, I’ve been wondering alot lately, how bad could he be?

I guess it will all come out in the wash and sometime tomorrow evening, we will have a much clearer picture of what our futures hold. Perhaps the one thing we can all be happiest about is that these damned political activists will stop calling us at all hours asking who we are voting for. I know at least that will make me happy.

Until next time…

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It’s amazing how many things go through your mind when you are waiting for your laundry to be done. I’m sitting here at the computer while the dryer is finally finishing a load of towels. Over the course of the last fifteen minutes or so, I’ve thought of at least fifteen different things I need to get done today. Aside from doing laundry, I need to take some library books back, clean up my house, go to the grocery store, get clothes ready for tomorrow morning, pay some bills, balance my checkbook, write the rest of a short story I’m working on, work on my website, pay attention to my daughter, exercise, visit my mother, and God knows what else… One of the things on my list was to write something here, so I guess I can cross that one off the list. The point is, no matter what I get done in a day, the heads keep growing back. Granted, I create some things for myself to do so that I can continue to feel like my life has a purpose. But there are other forces at work that create the rest.

How much of what we do is generated solely from our need to stay busy? How much of that need to stay busy or productive comes from simply being a female? I think women fall into this cycle much of the time because we are expected to keep things going. To make things “comfortable” for the people in our lives. Even if we have a really great husband or boyfriend who actually cooks or cleans, there is a degree of guilt attached whenever we don’t do the little things. I am by no means domestically inclined, yet I still feel the nagging sense that I need to prove my worth in this area. Look how good I am at keeping house, folding clothes, washing dishes, etc. Even though I hate housework and feel that it isn’t extremely important in the grand scheme of things, I still feel inadequate when I don’t do enough of it. This is some bullshit that is hardwired from years of listening to a grandmother who felt that “a woman’s place was in the home.”

I guess it was this kind of coaching that ultimately led me to become a feminist. I wasn’t sure that I was one before, but over the last several years, it has become clear that I believe in the power of women to achieve nearly anything. I believe that women should work together to make this world a better place and that we should use our strengths to help make other women stronger. So, as I sit here, waiting for my laundry to dry, I think about all of the things that I can do to make a positive impact on the world today. What can I do while waiting for my towels to dry? It’s hard to say for sure, but I hope that blogs such as this one are a step in the right direction. I found this quote over at http://www.feminist.com and thought it would work nicely here:

“In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she’s a feminist or a masochist.”
—Gloria Steinem

Now we just have to ask ourselves, which one will I be today?

Until next time…