Open Minded

I hear from liberals all the time that conservatives are not open minded. My experience has been so opposite of that.

I was kind of excited about Hillary running for President. She has the experience. I believe that she cares deeply about this country. I like her ideas for the health care system and admired her for sticking with that cause even though she failed to move that idea forward and could have abandoned that when she did fail to reform health care early in her husband's presidency. I thought it would be interesting to see how a woman would run the country, even if she is a democrat, even if the sound of her voice really grates on my last nerve. My point is, I didn't have to agree with her views on every issue, maybe not even most of the issues, in order to seriously consider her for the office of President. I was disappointed when Obama won out over her.

Around the office, some of us will talk politics and some won't. In my discussions up until last Friday, I said that I really had to see who McCain chose as a running mate before I would really form an opinion on who to vote for.

I consider myself to be fairly moderate. I am a registered Republican but have voted for Democrats. I am not keen on abortion but I also do not believe in the death penalty. I believe we were wrong to invade Iraq but that doesn't mean we just pull out and leave the mess behind. I think we should have concentrated on Afghanistan and it makes me sick that we still haven't caught Bin Laden. I wonder who will landscape our lawns and clean our offices if we deport everyone, but we need to make the immigration process easier and sneaking across the border harder. I believe everyone has a right to own a firearm. If you misuse it, you should be shot with it. I think we need universal health. Social Security was never intended to be the sole support of retired people. If it were up to me, I would let all the banks fail and even prosecute the greedy people who made a killing in the mortgage industry by putting poor people into homes they couldn't afford so they got a bigger commission.

Anyway, I think you get the point.

I have been talking to a woman at work about politics and I think she somehow assumed that I was a Democrat. She too, considers herself to be "middle of the road". I listened to her talk about how great the speeches were at the DNC last week. I don't watch alot of TV, but I followed the DNC carefully on my radio all week, listening to WNYC for commentary and excerpts from speeches, reading blog entries from Marc Steiner and listening to him on air when I could.

I heard Sarah Palin's speech on Friday when she was chosen as McCain's VP. She sounds like she could be my neighbor. She can't possibly be this normal, can she? I admire the way she has stood against corruption in her own party in Alaska. I admire the way she stands up for what she believes. She is a mother of five, married to her high school sweetheart AND she is successful in her career. I can't wait to learn more.

My coworker asked me this morning how I felt about her. When I shared my enthusiasm, she said she thought that Palin was too inexperienced to be VP, and she was too much a right wing, conservative, religious fanatic. She said that all she talks about is outlawing abortion. Funny, I have not yet heard her mention the topic. I also have not heard anything about her personal religious beliefs. When I said that I hadn't heard Palin mention abortion at all, my coworker assured me that it was coming. So, apparently, this woman hates Palin for what she might say in the future.

Is this open minded?