The Soapbox

Election years make me nervous. 

 

Not nervous as in first date nervous or about to go onstage nervous. 

 

Nervous like cat-two-inches-above-a-full-bathtub nervous. 

 

On my way home from my everlasting work day yesterday, I tuned in to the second presidential debate on NPR and realized that after listening for 120 brief seconds that I was grinding my teeth and sucking on my hair.  I’m not well-adjusted enough for the vagaries of politics.  Not during pregnancy, anyway.  As the intensity of the candidates’ exchange was ratcheted up, I tossed my intention of be a concerned, informed citizen into the backseat for the time being and smacked the radio dial in favor of blessed silence.

 

Once I’d returned to the old homestead and set all creatures and contraptions there in order, my adrenaline had ebbed low enough for me to try and apply my attention to debate again.  I turned the television on and danced around like a Fraggle with the hi-def antennae box for about ten minutes (no lie!) until I found a pose sufficient to maintain reception, then I stood and stared for ten minutes more.

 

While I won’t divulge my preference toward a specific candidate in this space, I will list a few observations on behalf of the middle class Southern state female pregnant young voter’s point of view as influenced by the past two debates:

 

At this moment in my family’s lives, we are employed full-time, one of us is also a full time student, we are well insured, and are expecting our first child at ages 27 and 30.  We are working hard to build a secure foundation for our financial well-being, even if it’s one small brick at a time.  We’ve made mistakes along the way, but we’ve also realized how important it is to make conservative decisions with our finances even when things are easy and we could just blow money.  I also thank God for family and friends whose  generosity to us has been enabled due to their own good judgment over the years.  We have learned volumes by observing them.   

 

I am not banking on our government to insure our family’s future is consumption-heavy or American-dreamy.  I’m voting for a candidate who will look our economic and national security issues square in the eyes and do what a government can do on its end to set America at a greater advantage and encourage its people to be hard-working and foresighted for their individual good as well as that of the country – not someone who’s full of high hopes and ideologies that lead us into engagements and investments like one tar baby after another.

 

Luke 14:28-30
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he may have enough to finish it; lest perhaps, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all those seeing begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.

 

I believe that social issues tie directly into the first two I mentioned, because if we do what’s wise (even if difficult) on the world stage and in our spending and production, choosing what’s best for our population (which doesn’t necessarily mean the most progressive or Hollywood-popular policies) socially will be approached with the same careful wisdom. 

 

I want a president who has a track record of success in various endeavors, and who does not feel the need to make any apology or mea culpa statement for providing well for their family or enabling others to work and provide for theirs.  Why should there be shame in multiply the ‘talents’ you’re given?  Long-term success doesn’t only require skill. 

 

Proverbs 21:5
The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenty; but the thoughts of everyone who is hasty only to poverty.

 

 It’s just as important to me to know the manner in which they spend their own money.  I know that this isn’t necessarily required for public knowledge, but it surely is telling of what an individual values.

 

Romans 13:7
Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

 

 Proverbs 3:9-10
Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

 

Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

 

So who am I voting for?  Consider the things I’ve just written and discern for yourself.

 

Now I’m hungry and my brain is drawing to a screeching halt.  I’m going to dismount from my soapbox now.

 

My doctor would frown upon me standing on high things anyway.