I think I’m becoming a political activist.  For the past three weeks, I have been thrown into a school redistricting fight, campaigning against a change that greatly impacts the fabric of my neighborhood, in every extra minute I have. And whether or not our neighborhood succeeds in our fight against this proposal, it’s amazing the power you can create when you connect people with a common passion and goal.

So with that thought, I drove to work yesterday thinking about the politics of the upcoming Presidential election.  As of Monday of this week, IKE has wreaked disastrous havoc in Houston.  Wall Street is collapsing.  The energy crisis continues to soar out of control, and abroad, our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq is a travesty.  So with all of these severe issues to contemplate, I believe Tina Fey’s SNL appearance as Sarah Palin was the news-maker coming off the weekend.  Yes, a funny skit, and one that dramatizes the power that Palin has unleashed on this country.  She has reignited the McCain campaign, and I just continue to scratch my head…and that scratch is evolving into a nervous tick…and that tick is morphing into something far greater – bordering on fear, when taking into consideration what is at stake in this year’s elections.

I’m scared at how right wing conservatives can so positively position the merits of this lady from Alaska, whose blatant lack of experience and extreme viewpoints leave me in total disbelief that we find ourselves in this position – a position that totally compromises the future of this country.  To revisit some of her platforms:

(1) She’s someone who has stated that her daughter has “made the decision” to keep her baby, exercising her very right to choose, which would be taken away under Mom’s own administration 
(2)  A woman who has foreign relations experience based on the fact that she has a line of sight to Russia from Alaska
(3) Her resume of vast experience – given she was Mayor of a town of 8,000, the same size of a  small/medium college
(4) Someone who is against environmental protection and development of alternative energy sources
(5) Someone who has violated our rights to free speech, as evidenced by her actions of banning books while mayor, and moving to fire the town librarian who stood against her
(6) Someone who is against gun control 
(7) Someone that doesn’t even know what the Bush Doctrine is (OK, to be fair, Charlie would of had me on that one too)

Probably for the first time in my life, I want to get out there and educate…and so many people feel so passionately about this.   As for McCain, although I’m not planning on throwing my support his way, I believe he’s basically a decent person.  But his selection of Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate is just purely irresponsible.  As Richard Cohen from the Washington Post says:  

“McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains — his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that’s all — but just as honorably. No more, though….

His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir — the person in whose hands he would leave the country — is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for. Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become president. McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.”

There’s a lot at stake in this next election.   We need to voice our opinions and understand the issues. To that end, I encourage all of us to approach November 4th with our eyes wide open.