“I am not young enough to know everything”

I’m a middle-class white woman living in Willcox, Arizona, deep in the heart of McCain territory. I’ve got a football-coach husband, and two gorgeous little girls. On November 4th, I’m going to go vote, and I’m taking my girls with me. I think of it as a lesson in Civics, they think of it as a free “I voted” sticker. But the thing is, I’m not voting for Obama.

I’m voting for my grandparents, who worked hard all their lives… and although they don’t have much, they believe in the promise of this country.

I’m voting for my parents, who have worked so hard for decades to provide for myself and my sister, and who have done without for themselves too many times.

I’m voting for Josh, a guy I worked with who was killed in Iraq a few years ago. Since he can’t vote anymore, I like to think that I’m voting for his kids too.

As a matter of fact, I’m voting for several friends who have been sent away from their families to Iraq… Robert, Chris (who is there now, God Bless), Adam, and James. I’m voting so their families may have hope that they can come home soon, or not be sent away again.

I’m voting for my African-American friends… I was oblivious for a long time, but now I realize how much different your experiences must have been.

I’m voting for my mother, who was seventeen and pregnant, who worked two jobs at times, and who hung her head in shame when she had to sometimes pay with food stamps.

I’m voting for my coworkers and old college buddies who are Christian, Jewish, Mormon and (gasp!) Muslim.

I’m going to vote for the guy that came over the other day and hauled all of the tree limbs from my backyard. I think he needs a REAL tax break.

I’m voting for a bunch of dead white men who, although flawed, were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, and used a time of great crisis to EXPAND freedom rather than suspend it.

I’m voting for four little angels from Birmingham.

I’m voting for all of those people, and more. But honestly, I’m mostly voting for selfish reasons. I’m voting for two little girls… one who wants to be an author and writes beautifully, and another who just tore up everything in my living room. I will vote for a world where they can be confident that their government will represent the best that is in this country, and that will, in turn, demand the best of them. I will vote for a government that will have respect from the world, a government that will not abandon it’s people, a government that will care for it’s poor, it’s weak, it’s infirm, it’s elder, and it’s children. I will vote for everything I believe in.

Sure, I’m going to draw the little arrow to point at the word “Obama,” but it’s not him I’m voting for. I’m voting for every single one of us… especially those two girls I love so very much. Vote with me, please?

Valerie