Mourning in America

I am a little disappointed this morning. I feel that my country and my city have each done something foolish. As you can tell by the banner above, we were supporting John McCain and I believe that electing Barack Obama as president is foolish. What I cannot understand is how a guy who promises to raise taxes on the wealthy received 50% of the vote for those making over $100,000; how a guy who sympathizes with the PLO receives 60% of the Jewish vote; how a guy who will “bankrupt” anyone who makes a coal-powered power plant wins Pennsylvania; how a guy who is pro-abortion wins ANY of the Catholic and evangelical Christian vote. I guess I don’t understand how people can disconnect their religious views from their voting. My faith has an impact on every aspect of my life. (Sometimes just making me feel guilty when I know I’ve done something wrong, but still… it has an impact). What I watch on TV, how I spend my time, the friends I have, how I spend my money, where I volunteer, all of this is impacted by my faith. I believe in the sanctity of life. Period. I believe marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. Period. I can’t put that aside because of a charismatic “Hope” and “Change” mantra. Guess it’s time to buy a gun and pray, (I live in the middle of the country, so I “cling to guns and religion”).

My city, Irving, has passed beer/wine sales. I have lived in Irving for most of the last 30 years and am again, disappointed. The fabric of life in Irving has changed considerably in that time, most would say for the worse. The schools are not as good, the property values have not increased at expected levels, there are run down apartments and overcrowded rent houses(only 33% of the homes in Irving are owner-occupied). Now, this issue comes up at just about every election and is usually defeated by about a 60/40 margin. This time, it passed by 768 votes despite being oppposed by the mayor and city council. I contend that Irving has enough trouble without adding this to the mix. What positive affect will this have in Irving? Will there be less empty beer cans and bottles in the streets? Will there be less people sleeping on park benches? Will there be less drunk drivers? Or drunk walkers? Will there be less loitering around convenience stores? Hmmmm. I think not. It is probable that these things get worse, but they certainly won’t get better. Is that quality of life issue worth 1 cent per dollar on beer/wine sales? Not to me, and anyone who knows me knows that I do like to drink! I guess I was hoping some of the “old” Irving was still around, I think it has slipped away. Bummer.

I told Kim we would move if Irving passed the beer/wine sales. I’m still thinking about that one, but it’s not off the table. Craig is ready to move to Australia, maybe we’ll go there...