Political Post

I am tired of the term "conservative" being a curse word and a way of describing anyone with opposing political views. I'm not crazy about "liberal" being used in the same way, but on the day after election day, well...my personal leanings (which *are* largely conservative) become affected.

I'm conservative. I'm tolerant. I'm open to new ideas and different perspectives. I'm a moderate conservative, because a few things I differ from the standard conservative line.

I'm young. I'm in the 18-30 range that was predicted to be voting for Kerry. The range that only comprised 17% of the vote (and really, some days I want to smack that group for idiocy, because in college I encountered way too many people complaining about the outcomes of elections who didn't vote...when if they all had voted, it honestly could have changed the outcome).

Here's the thing. If anyone judges me based on the fact that I AM conservative, then I can't respect their views. Balance in this country comes from people being different. Those running ahead are balanced by those wanting to stay behind. Some are far more cautious than others. Caution can be bad, caution can be good. The same goes for the adventurous. But the balance of both sides is needed to keep each from getting out of control. It swings either way at different times based on what the next generation perceives as overkill. An overkill of conservatism, an overkill of liberalism. Do I see anything wrong with kids getting fed up with being shown sex and violence every day on TV? No. They're making the decision in their *own* lives to get away from "too much" of something.

I am conservative. I have friends that are liberal. We respect each others' viewpoints and listen and get the arguments and the differences. We may never see eye to eye on some things. But we are individuals with individual views. Politicians *never* represent us completely. Neither do political parties. We vote how we vote and we live with it.

If all conservatives - if all Republicans - are grouped together as some monstrously bad group, then I don't see how I can see eye to eye with someone so intolerant of other views.

Grump

It's early, I have my period, my hormones are raging, and the caffeine isn't helping.

I want chocolate and I want porn.

*grumps*

And a top hat. Just because.

General Question

Because this is something that I didn't get in 2000 or this year.

Concessions are nice, polite ways of giving up and saying "I know, I lost". In landslides (like Clinton vs. Dole) I'd say it's the polite way to walk away from it all.

But in close elections, why concede? To me, close is when percentage wise they're within 5 points of each other. With a large population, that's a lot of people, but...well, I just don't get the concession I guess. It's an expected thing, but I can't understand why ALL votes aren't definitely counted before an announcement is made and concessions made.

Hey, it used to be months before all votes were tabulated. The advent of technology and mass media is what has given us the opportunity to find out overnight. I say, since we've got early voting in several states, why not have voting for a month, then make it mandatory to take a month to tabulate. No matter what the margin. (And do away with punch card ballots. Cause they're Teh Evil.)

Because this is LJ...

...we must discuss *something* fannish!

( Gilmore Girls )