America frightens me. Well, to be fair, all politicians frighten or annoy me to some degree. It has been only recently that I started to look into the upcoming Presidential election in the United States. The most recent information that I had heard was the announcing of the vice-presidential candidates: Governor Sarah Palin (Rep. - Alaska) and Senator Joe Biden (Dem. - Delaware).
Regardless of the decision made by the American people on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, it will be a historic one. If the Democratic Party is elected, America will have elected the first African-American president. If the Republican Party is elected, America will have elected their first female Vice-President.
To get a better idea of what this means aside from the whole race/gender issue, I started to look into some of the candidate’s political positions. In the spirit of “Ladies’ First”, I looked into Governor Sarah Palin, and was slightly taken aback by what I saw.
Abortion and Sex Education
She is Pro-Life. I have no quarrels with that. I myself am reluctantly Pro-Choice. I believe I have expressed in the past on this blog that I tolerate that - in some instances - abortion needs to happen. However, if it were my own child, I would prefer to choose life (although the choice seldom belongs to those of my gender).
Her stance on abortion doesn’t worry me. There is nothing ultimately harmful about being pro-life, because pro-life does not discount the possibility of putting the child up for adoption, which is a perfectly suitable alternative. Her stance on sex education concerns me.
She is one of those abstinence-only sex education people.
How is anything but comprehensive sex education going to keep people from making babies? Teenagers are constantly horny and curious about eachother’s body parts. This is not going to change. Texas spends more on abstinence-only sex education than any other state “” and has more teen sex than any other state.
So, with her as Vice President, what sort of naive policies will begin to work their way down the pipeline on this front? Frightening.
Capital Punishment, Guns
Had to throw this part in briefly. Capital Punishment and Pro-Guns.
I can never understand how these people are always also Pro-Life. Religious belief is not a License to Kill.
Education and Creationism
She supports full funding for K-12 education…but she is a Creationist. On teaching “creation science” (as the article calls it) in American schools, Sarah Palin said, “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.”
I have no problem with people believing creationism on their own. To each his own. But religious beliefs should never tarnish the education system. Actual facts lose all meaning when you weigh them down with mysticism, superstition and pseudoscience. And I question how one can have a successful debate where one side can put forth concrete evidence while the other side can only submit vague conjecture.
Her Whole Energy Policy
Reading over some of the stuff this woman has said about energy is very odd.
Basically, she seems to say that being in Iraq and depending on foreign powers for access to oil should force us to look to alternatives. However, these alternatives should not be alternative forms of energy, but alternative sources of oil. Namely, Alaskan oil deposits. In Alaska - her home state - she is trying to get drilling going on specific land and off shore drilling sites.
Her tactics include getting certain animals stricken from endangered species lists so that their habitats can be disturbed for the purposes of drilling. Class act, I must say. Can’t we just start building up a lot of wind turbines and hydro stations and use the reusable resources all around us - unless we start to run out of wind that is.
All very peculiar policies. And she doesn’t even have that much political experience.
Some people have said it already and I’m inclined to agree; it seems as if a woman was placed on the Republican ticket to help Senator John McCain swoop in and secure some of the female vote. Governor Palin is a feminist, which should work to Senator McCain’s advantage.
Also of note, she has a son who is apparently in the military. I’d be interested to see what path his career takes. He is being deployed in September (or perhaps has already been deployed). Do you suppose he will see battle or any sort of armed conflict? I guess we’ll see.