Voting Our Values

The presidential election of 2012 presents us with a clear choice. What values do we want America to represent? Yes, we need jobs. But do we want our nation to be run solely as a business with corporations seen as people and with the race for more possessions as our focus?

Or do we want to create a compassionate community with actual human beings caring for one another? Do we want our care to include or exclude our Gay brothers and sisters and our immigrants? Or do we want to forget our own off shore origins and our own struggles for acceptance?

Women fought long and hard for the right to vote and the right to be treated fairly and equally with men. Do women want to give up control over their own bodies? Do women want a say in how they are treated in the workplace and in their homes?

We have been and are a prosperous nation. Do we pile our abundance ever higher with greed or do we give every citizen the chance at a healthy life by providing all with health care? Will we give a hand up to our poor, our homeless and our elderly? Will we put educating our children and honoring Mother Earth at the top of our list?

Will we reach out and be part of a community of world leaders, respecting others' cultural differences? Or will the United States become an autocratic country, telling other nations they must play by our rules or else? Will diplomacy and cooperation win out over conflict/military escalation?

What values do we want to teach our children? What kind of world do we want to live in? Voting gives each of us a voice.

© 2012