Each election season, candidates raise zillions of dollars and spend a good portion of that largesse on polling: what do voters want to hear? In 2004, Democrats read women way wrong, and as a result lost votes that should've been a cinch. Slate contributer Melinda Henneberger wanted to know why -- what did women voters hear that they weren't looking for, and what issues truly are important to them? And do they really speak with one voice on every issue? So she hit the road, and asked women all over the country these very questions. If you're considering running for office this time around -- or ever -- listen up: you just might be surprised. And women, what are the biggest issues you consider when you select a candidate?
Blog of the Nation
I'm a stay at home dad and I'd like to know ....what does "mothering like a republican" mean? Raise your kids with superstition in a bubble and then send them off to war? Interesting.
Let me make a quick point.
I have had it with the constant debate over issues that only effect a small majority of the population.
Marriage to someone you love is a basic right.
It is difficult enough to meet someone that understands you and accepts you for who you are.
So why take that away from anyone.
Gay marriage should not even be a political discussion it is a personal choice.
We have real issues going on now.
We have no health care
We have unemployment issues
We have a failing education system
We have children murdering other children
The second we start focusing on religious based issues such as abortion & gay marriage is the beginning of the downfall of the united states.
Lets face it both Rome & China fell due to there obsession with conservative views.
If you don't agree with gay marriage thats fine but leave those who do be.
And leave personal decisions out of politics.
As a morally conservative woman, I struggle greatly with trying to figure out which issues I allow to direct my vote. I don't believe abortion is good for the country. I don't believe rampant sexuality, both heterosexual and homosexual, is good for the country. I don't believe tolerating only political correctness and condemning conservative values is good for the country.
I also don't believe protecting big corporations at the expense of the environment, the "little guy", and the poor is good for us. I don't feel that policing other countries is our job, but I don't want to forget about Hitler either. I don't think the poor should be neglected, but believe in personal responsibility too.
Where's the candidates that combine (what I think is) the best of both parties?! Because I have been unhappy with the choices I'm given, I have voted third party a time or two just to try to make a point.
In this discussion I heard no one speak of American values. What happened to liberty and justice for all?
One caller said she felt liberals were making Christians look foolish. The religious right has made themselves look foolish.
When have you ever heard a religious right preacher urge upholding our Pilgrm's contribution to the liberty debate?
The inscription on the Liberty Bell says: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof." That comes from Leviticus 25:10.
Yet what does the religious right want to do? Deny liberty to women their right to make their own decision about their body.
They never quote Jesus who said: It would have been good had that man not been born.
Jesus is also reported as saying, Some are born eunuchs from their mother's womb.
Being born a certain way shouldn't be a basis for the state to deny such persons to enter into a loving, caring, sharing, marriage relationship with another of the same orientation.
So much for the religious right standing up for the biblical value of liberty for all.
Makes one wonder if the religious right even bother's to read their Bible.
I'm still trying to understand the
position of the woman who switched from
Democrat to Republican because of the
gay marriage issue. She identified her
self as a black woman, so she should be
fully aware of the damage done to our
nation by bigotry and descrimination,
and equally aware of the tremendous role
played by the Democratic Party in fighting for equality for all Americans.
Had the Democrats not been at the forefront of the civil rights movement;
had they not stood as a group unified in
it's opposition to racism and all other
forms of bigotry; had they not been proactive in passing laws and
instituting programs that assured the
inclusion into society of people like
this woman, then it simply wouldn't have happened, because the Republicans
fought equal-rights tooth and nail.
It's a shame this lady switched parties
on the basis of a single issue on which
she disagreed, leaving behind the party
that has for decades been the guardian of the civil rights of people just like
her. I wonder what she gained.
I'm the son of a Church of God preacher, & I've got to say that it is really depressing to hear someone say something like, "I know what my Bible says about [gay marriage]," as if Jesus were preaching against gay marriage -- as if that was an issue in the New Testament! What WERE Jesus' issues?
Do you REALLY know what your Bible says?
It says, "Blessed are the poor."
It says, "Blessed are the peacemakers."
It says, "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew, Chapter 5)
Anyone who truly wants to live by Jesus' teaching cannot abide the hatred, the judgmentalism, the war-mongering of this President and the "religious right" in America today.
A Christian is not called upon to follow the herd. A Christian is called to love our fellow citizens of the world, to love justice, and to walk humbly before her God.
The moment someone says she has to vote for her "faith," and then says she supports Bush because he SAYS he's a Christian, is the moment I know that this person follows those things she THINKS she is supposed to follow, as a Christian, rather than acting out of a deep understanding of Jesus' message.
I am a evangelical Christ following woman, a stay at home mom,a seminary graduate, and a Democrat. I am frustrated that the only 2 issues many, if not most, Christians seem to care about are abortion and gay marriage. Homosexuality is mentioned only a few times in the bible and never by Jesus. Abortion isn't really referred to at all. However, poverty is mentioned over 2000 times and we are told in James that pure and undefiled religion is taking care of the widows and orphans. That doesn't sound like the religion I hear coming out of many right-wing Christians. Unfortunately, these Christians are the ones with the voice but they are not the only Christians who will be voting in 2008. There are more and more Christians who fed up with the religious right, e.g. Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborn, Tony Campolo. The war is a moral issue as is poverty, health care, the enviroment. Let's change the debate. Please do not think that all evangelical Christians hate homosexuals and care only about 2 issues. I am raising 2 young daughters in the suburbs and I will vote for the democratic candidate in 2008. I want my children to grow up seeing me fight for the oppressed and care for the poor and love my neighbor - all my neighbors. Those are my core values and I hope they will be my daughter's.
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