Crossing the lines to party.

aka crossing party lines.

Blog Disclaimer: I'm not trying to start a political debate. Just, you know, writing. My friend Liz over at Pharm Girl did a blog post yesterday about voting. I read it just I was starting mine. Anyway, Liz is a smart girl and a conservative voter. But I love her anyway :)

So... It's voting time again. Just in case you live in a vacuum or black hole and you've haven't heard of Meg Whitman. Yeah. It's that time of year. The leaves are changing. The weather is cooling. The phone is ringing off the hook with the sounds of pre-recorded voices urging you to vote for this or that or whatever. You can hang up. I give you permission.

Let me start with this: I am liberal. (Oh. My. What did she say?)

Yes. That's right. I am a liberal in a town of conservatives. I confess. Please don't toilet paper my house. Being a minority is tough. My Obama sticker got stolen right off my car. Twice. I wasn't raised by liberals. That doesn't make sense because my parents smoked a lot of weed and were into that free love thing but still my dad is conservative. Weird. I don't think my mom even votes, which is worse than being conservative even. My grandparents are also conservative. Like "have a signed picture of George W. Bush on the wall" conservative. Reeeeally conservative. So I came to my liberal place on my own. I went to an eco-conscious/liberal college where if you didn't recycle you might as well have been a felon and if you weren't pro-choice you might as well have been from Mars. I chose that college. It was my first choice. I applied to 4 other colleges but that was the only one I cared to attend.

I'm not too crunchy but I do recycle. We do what we can. I teach my kids love and responsibility for their surroundings (I mean not their bedrooms obviously, but whatever). We drive an astoundingly big car, it's true, but my husband drives an abnormally small car to offset this environmental offense. We conserve water. We cloth diaper. I wear my babies. We had our baby at home, but we aren't hippies. I breastfeed, not for 6 years, but I do. I'm not going to stop washing my hair or anything, but I do what I can.

Anyway when it comes to politics and voting I subscribe to the following method: Vote your conscience. So I do. I acknowledge that my conscience might not be yours. That's ok. But here's how I vote: I vote with love and concern for other people, or what I think best promotes that. The gay people. The straight people. The people who can't pick. The Christian people. The Jewish people. The atheist people. The liberal people. The conservative people. The socialist people. I even love and care about the people with the Vidak sign on their lawn (or it was on their lawn, but I didn't steal it, I swear. It wasn't me). If I'm not sure how to vote on something I vote 1. for the good of the people I care about (my kids mostly) or 2. for the environment. If I'm really not sure I ask my husband because he's also liberal, and has a lot more opportunity to read the news than I do (AKA: His job is awesome.)

I don't mind political debate. In fact, I welcome it. Good conversational exchange leaves both parties feeling like they've gained from the experience. I think that what makes being human great is that we aren't the same. So let's celebrate those differences. Get out and vote, however you're voting, unless you live in California and you're voting for Meg Whitman. Nah I'm just kidding, you can vote for Meg, then we can have a good conversational exchange about it.

I voted. Now I'm going to go vacuum. Priorities you know.