Why I Won't Vote For Palin

One of the things I learned when we lived in DC last year was that most policies and political ideology has a rational and theoretical basis. They may get distorted and politicized but I was able, with the help of my friends who hold those ideologies to see where they were coming from in their support. This "ability to see the other side" was hard fought since I grew up in a part of the world where mostly everyone believes something similar and votes the party line. Actually, it's not that everyone votes the party line it's probably more that the dissenting voters got sick of explaining their positions to people who weren't listening anyway.

My point is I know a lot more about politics than I did two years ago. I also learned where exactly my own politics are in relation to elected officials given that I had to analyze how those policies worked, sort of worked, or didn't work.

-I learned that I would love to vote for a candidate who was not necessarily fiscally conservative but fiscally responsible. For me that means balancing the budget. I don't believe in a small government. I do believe that the government has an important role to play both in infrastructure, safety, education, and stewardship but I don't believe we should pay for those things if the money simply isn't there. I also believe that money is incredibly misspent and inefficiently used.

- I believe that the government shouldn't tell me what to do with my body, my house, my savings, etc. This makes me strongly pro-choice and strongly pro gay marriage. Why should the government care? I can see why a family unit might care or why a church might care but why would I want a government, who I entrust to build roads and administer schools have a say in what happens to my body. And why should they say who can be a couple or not? Again, I can see why a church might care but the government is not a church. If you want to live in a country where the religion is the law you should move to Iran or someplace else where Sharia, or islamic law, rules the land. Good luck if you're a woman and want to drive a car.

- Foreign policy is kind of a maze to me but I can see why countries keep out of wars and conflicts. I'm going to leave this one up to the experts. I should say that in all of my time in DC no one was able to give me a single good reason that was based in reality over why we invaded Iraq. This is one of those areas where there is a theoretical base for the idea that has no real practical application. Now if someone could tell me why we haven't spent all that time, money, and blood rebuilding Afghanistan I'd be really happy to listen. So, in a nutshell, war can be a necessary evil and when justified, and important element of foreign policy.

- Energy. This one is a no brainer. Basically everyone believes that we should be less energy dependent on other countries. Energy independence is a wonderful uniter in my mind can only be accomplished through a combination of conservation and innovation to shift us from an oil based system.

- Evolution. As a scientist, policies that support alternative theories to darwinian evolution should be welcome in the classroom but they shouldn't be taught as science. They're not based upon science. As an educator I support a discussion based that allows kids to understand the notion of the nature of science and the nature of religious belief. I've had the discussion many times but do not believe that creationism or ID should ever be presented as an alternative scientific belief but that is should be presented as another way of looking at the world. I'm going to go back to my feelings that the government shouldn't tell individual educators how to teach this subject and stop trying to mandate it.

- Sex Ed. I've taught sex ed, its a pretty strange thing for anyone other than a school to mandate. I'm a big believer in giving kids information so as an educator I teach abstinence, relationship skills to allow kids to learn how to negotiate not having sex if they don't want to, anatomy, disease prevention, etc. That is in an ideal world. When, on your first day of teaching in a new school, the principal rushes up to you and asks you to deliver a talk about what sex is to sixth graders because she has another 11 year old impregnated by her uncle, all bets are off the table for how to legislate against that.

All of this leads up to the fact that I finally and definitely made up my mind about Palin. I'm intrigued by the choice and think she's pretty feisty, I shudder at the idea of her governing mostly because it will comes from a place that I disagree with on a practical level.

I also wonder who I could vote for given the current mash up with the two major parties. I have to say the New England libertarians look really great right now.