Tis the season to elect our next president.  From Wickipedia:  Modern political discourse focuses on democracy and the relationship between people and politics. It is thought of as the way we “choose government officials and make decisions about public policy”.

The sound of that is glorious.  I love all that it entails, the process of learning where each candidate stands, has anything in either party changed?  Should I rethink my stand on certain key items that are important to me?  Do I know enough to make an informed decision for me and my family and country?  Because, yes, I have a say in the way my country works, amazing.

For me the process of voting is highly emotional.  Nothing brings tears to my eyes more than the sound of the curtain closing behind me in the voting booth. The power that is mine at that very moment overwhelms me. There is such a sense of community at my polling location, people coming in with their coffee cups, greeting one another and wishing everyone well as they wait to take their turn in the booth regardless of party affiliation or beliefs.

All these things are intensely personal and I wish to keep it that way. The older I get the more I adopt my father’s philosophy, I don’t enjoy talking politics.  I believe that ruins friendships and work relationships so I tend to “agree to disagree” when backed into a conversation on politics that I find belittling, threatening or overpowering.

One of the strongest philosophies I believe is that we are probably more alike than we are different but I honestly don’t wish to confirm this, I choose simply to believe it. I must say I wonder about things like, if you are a conservative Republican and a member of your family is gay, what do you do?  I don’t want to know, I simply wonder. There are many nuances to the fabric of our country that could play out this way, that give me pause, especially as a woman especially as a person who believes strongly in the separation of church and state. I worry for our country in that we don’t seem to be looking for our similarities but only at our differences.

I am uneasy about the national debt, I am concerned about the economy, and I fear that our politicians no longer look upon their jobs as one of service to the people of this country and that they have become, one and all, power hungry to their own end.

I’ve been called liberal. It’s a broad term that not many people understand based ironically on the ideas of liberty and equality.  Again the woman thing…and probably because I believe in people helping people and the government championing that.  I have a colleague that thinks that liberal equals un-American and said as much.  I was not forwarded a donation request for a very worthy cause for the Wounded Warriors because he felt I was too liberal.  I have never been so hurt, tears in my eyes hurt, ever before. Instilled by my father, I am a believer that if your country asks you to go to war we must all stand behind you regardless of our belief in the cause that put you there.  I believe in people period.

I will continue to agree to disagree and make it known that that’s where I stand, firmly planting in the pact that we should not discuss our philosophies. I must say that I fear people will try and impose themselves and their philosophies on me as happened just recently.  I had this very agreement with a colleague for quite some time and something made him send me a politically charged email that was untrue.  Had it been based in truth I might have responded differently but the fact is he broke the pact we had in the interest of stirring the pot.  This is not the true essence of our country, we can each believe what we believe and allow the other to do the same.   We can also endeavor to find out, through listening to each other, where we share our certain views and respect each other where we don’t.

I love my country and I stand behind my President.  Regardless of their party because my fellow Americans said it should be so.  I know like I know that we are more similar than we are different and if only we could exhale and remember that, in our country, we have the amazing gift of freedom allowing us to have a conversation that might bring us closer rather than further apart. Bottom line, don’t forget to vote your beliefs as you see fit, it is your right and your privilege. On this we can agree.