What really grinds my gears

I’m sure most of you have heard that Terry McAuliffe won the Virginia governor’s race (yay!). However, the past 2 days have been full of interesting posts on Facebook and other social media cites from my conservative friends. Post such as:

“When your morals and money are gone – look in the mirror. A liar is a liar and will NEVER change. You will be called on it. Trust me….Our beloved Commonwealth has been overrun with liberals, and that is not a good thing.”

“Did not a very prominent Dem (the liar president) state on numerous occasions “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it”… and still my beloved Commonwealth of Virginia (with way too many non VA natives) has not understood the lies. MY Virginia would never go for this. And… if this offends you – feel free to delete me.”

“As the polls come in….. be mindful that some idiots may get what they asked for. Don’t you dare to complain – I will call you on it! May take six months before they go back on their campaign promises – but it will come..”

“So Virginians…those for McAuliffe, what did you really vote for last night?
*More overreaching in Obamacare
*Bringing back in the unions. No more right to work state
*$1700 in new taxes per person
*Penalty tax for driving a hybrid or electric car
*A mileage tax charged to everyone on the number of miles driven annually
*A Governor elect that is involved in 5 different Federal investigations
*A governor who personally had his company set up in China all while financially duping the poor folks of Mississippi.
*A Governor who invested in a scheme to take retirement funds and Insurance benefits away from terminally ill patients. His cohort has already been convicted and put in prison.
*A governor who worked hand in hand with Hillary’s brother to get illegal visas for Chinese businessmen in exchange for cash investments into his Chinese based Greentech Electric car company.
*A governor who is a liar and follows the example of the current lying President of the United States.
*
***YOU GET WHAT YOU VOTE FOR***HEY ALL YOU WOMEN OUR THERE…THAT CAST YOUR VOTE FOR MCAULIFFE….YOU GOT YOU YOUR FREE CONTRACEPTIVES AND HE WILL SUPPORT YOU IN YOUR QUEST TO ABORT BABIES AFTER 20 WEEKS…BUT HEY THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT…ME, ME, ME…SCREW OUR KIDS AND THEIR FUTURES AS LONG AS YOU GET YOUR WAY!!”

Let’s have a moment of silence for all the ignorance in the world. Now let’s something straight. ALL of these quotes, these examples of partisan politics are the reason why things like the shutdown happen. It’s the reason why Congress has the lowest approval rating in it’s history. Because all you all (Democrats do this too), get up on your high horse and think you are SOO much better than the other party, you refuse to reach across party lines and actually get shit done. Sorry not sorry but everyone who participates in politics, whether it be the politicians or the voters, needs to grow up and get over themselves. It’s not about you, it’s not about your personal beliefs, it’s about creating change so we can actually be a functioning society that is perceived to be competent worldwide.

So let’s talk about some of the arguments made:

1. Virginia is overrun by liberals. False. Yes you have a Democrat governor and lieutenant governor, however, life wont be easy for them with a Republican attorney general and a majority of Republicans in the House of Delegates. Quit crying because you didn’t win every race you want. You’ll still have mainly Republican legislation being passed through the House, you just won’t get anti-LGBTQ and anti-women legislation passed.

2. McAuliffe won because of people who work in Virginia and REAL Virginians didn’t want him to win. False, maybe? I can’t speak for everyone, I can’t get in the heads of every person who voted for Virginia however, the only area where that argument could be made is Northern Virginia (because people from Maryland and D.C. commute to work there. However, look how Virginians voted. College towns like Harrisonburg, Danville, and Roanoke all went blue (and are in Southern Virginia, far from where those hippy liberal commuters work) and so did much of the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake area. I can speak for myself however. I was born and raised in Virginia, I love this state however I think our politicians get away with politics that should have stayed in the 1940’s when they propose bills that hate anyone who isn’t a white, upper-class, heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied male. I think we should get out of these “good ole boy” politics and actually get with the 21st century. But that’s just my two-cents as a Virginian.

3. You get what you ask for, McAuliffe will go back on campaign promises, just like Obama. True, to some extent. Politicians lie. It sucks but they do it. Most politicians are good sweet talkers to get into office and then play party politics once they get elected and don’t do much. Obama has been taken as this huge liar. I get it, Obama’s not a popular guy, but he hasn’t lied about things. He’s kept most campaign promises unless party politics have gotten in the way. One thing is for sure, McAuliffe’s biggest campaign promises were that he wouldn’t pass anti-women or anti-LGBTQ legislation that Cuccinelli would have passed. I feel like most people won’t be too upset wit him as long as that type of legislation doesn’t get passed.

4. McAuliffe is a liar and dirty politician and you’re a selfish women if you voted from him. False, get over yourself. If it’s selfish for a women to want to have autonomy over her body, then I don’t want to live on this planet. My biggest problem with Republicans is that they frame women as selfish for wanting to decide the future of their own health. I’m not rich, I’m not economically-independent, and I take birth control for medical reasons. I don’t think abortion is a great thing but you’re damn right I think I should have the right to have one if I so desire. If you believe abortion is murder, then don’t have one! Just how Republicans don’t want the government trample on their government rights, I don’t want rich white men trampling on my right to decide my own reproductive health. McAuliffe may not be a great person, but he’s better than a Tea-Party Cuccinelli who thinks he’s pro-women because he helped a girl in college (got that gem from the second debate). You think that McAuliffe is going to change everything but again, let’s be real, with a Republican majority in the House of Delegates McAuliffe won’t get any major Democratic legislation passed.

Let me know what you all think, I’m curious to see how Republicans will respond to this post.

Sam

The VA Governors Race is important to women

I’ve been following bits and pieces of the VA governor’s race. I’m going to just lay everything out on the table- I despise Ken Cuccinelli. While I understand that Virginia is obviously a conservative state, I think that Ken Cuccinelli is far to conservative to be part of the 21st century, and the main reason I believe this is his stance on women during his campaign.

First, Cuccinelli wants to ban all forms of birth control, not just abortion, but the pill too, as well as remove funding for women’s clinics like Planned Parenthood. He wants to ban abortion in all cases, including times of rape, incest and when a pregnancy threatens a women’s health. I’m sorry but I have this radical belief that if you don’t have lady parts you probably should keep your nose out of legislation that doesn’t even concern you. My biggest problem with the Republican Party, which is dominated by wealthy, white men, is that they try to tell me what I can and can’t do with my body. I think that concept that a man can rule of a women’s body, telling her what she can and can’t do because maybe it violates his beliefs, is a huge problem. It just continues the patriarchal concept that women can’t make their own decisions. That they need their white knight to protect her and make a decision for her because she’s completely incapable to do so on her own. I’m a women, who can make an educated decision on her own and I don’t need rich male bureaucrats telling me what I can and can’t do with my reproductive rights. Ladies, I’m not sure if you heard of the Virginia abortion bill that was passed in 2012. This bill requires that when you receive an ultrasound before you have an abortion. This ultrasound has no medical necessity– it’s only purpose is to try and deter women from receiving an abortion. Ken Cuccinelli was one of the state legislators that supported this bill and got it to pass.

In the most recent debate, Terry McAuliffe as usual brought up Cuccinelli’s view on women and his track record for hurting women through his legislation choices. Cuccinelli’s response was “no one has helped women more than me”. He said he created an organization while he was at UVA to help rape victims and that he has helped provide domestic violence campaigns through the attorney general’s office. Cool story bro. You did a few good things. Do you think that counteracts the numerous things you have proposed and continue to advocate that squash any and all rights for the women of Virginia? You were one of three attorney generals in the United States who didn’t sign a letter to help reauthorize Violence Against Women Act. You have condoned Republican’s in the state legislature to ratify several bills to shut down women’s clinics. You introduced a bill to provide criminal penalties to doctors who preform abortions despite abortion being held up by the Supreme Court. You proposed a person-hood bill that would make interfere with women’s reproductive rights, even in cases of fertility treatments and managing a miscarriage by making conception be the starting point of life. You call idea of birth control as a preventative measure a “sterilization mandate” ignoring the horrors that women and men of Virginia suffered due to the fact they had mental disorders they were forced by the state to give up their reproductive rights and were forcefully sterilized (a program that only ended 34 years ago). So please, understand why I don’t believe that you don’t do shit for the women of this state just because you did two nice things for women in your political career.

Now ladies if that alone didn’t make your blood boil, here’s something that will. Second, Cuccinelli wants to make change divorce laws. A little background for my followers who don’t live in Virginia, while there are some grounds for divorce (ie adultery, abuse, felony convictions) most people in Virginia get divorces on the grounds  of no-fault divorce, where they separate for 6 months if there are no minor children or 12 months if there are minor children. Cuccinelli proposed a bill in 2008 that would make it impossible for a couple with children to get a no fault divorce. His reasoning it that divorce has a bad influence on children. As a child of divorce, while my parent’s divorce wasn’t the ideal situation for anyone involved. My parents didn’t get married thinking they were going to get divorced. Shit happens. That being said, I’m absolutely glad my parents got divorced. My house was a war-zone. My parents were yelling at each other all the time. So while divorce isn’t a great option, it’s a better option than a child learning that’s what a marriage is supposed to be and being under perpetual stress because they’re parents are always fighting.

So sorry not sorry Cuccinelli, I hope you lose. I think the fact that you want to impose your personal and religious beliefs upon every one is a problem. I think the fact that you think that you can govern a woman’s body just because your in a place of power is sickening. I think that you want to tell women how she should act on her reproductive system is a problem because guess what, you don’t have lady parts and none of that legislation concerns you.

Sam