political bullying

Tomorrow is election day and I am planning on putting Judah in our jogging stroller and running a mile to the local high-school to cast my vote on who I would like to see as President of the United States for the next four years. Since I took Judah to both a Mitt Romney and President Obama Rally I've been doubling up on the political email. Also since I live in the DC area with very politically minded friends, my facebook feed is full of political status updates. Although most days my head is literally swarming with political opinions I am not allowing myself to be angry at any specific party. I don't have to debate with each person that I am not in agreement with and I don't have to read each email that comes into my inbox. I can hit delete or I can scroll past the person on my facebook feed. What hurts my heart is when people take politics so personally that they are willing to sacrifice a friendship. Yesterday I saw someone write a post saying "If your not going to vote or if your voting for someone other than Obama I don't want to be your friend". That made me sick, not because of who she wanted as president. It made me sick because I've visited countries where women are not allowed to vote, Ive spent time in Cairo hearing stories from children who are being forced to do things that are unimaginable all because people in leadership were not protecting them. We do not live in a third world country, we live in American and we have the right to research both candidates and form our own personal opinion on who we would like to see in office. We should not be bullied for forming our own opinion and the person that does the bullying is just like those horrible leaders in other countries who refuse to allow women to vote. 

My husband and I have very different political views. Am I going to defriend or divorce him if he decides to vote for someone I am not voting for? Thats ridiculous, I am not going to write him off for good just because he has a different opinion than I do. I would rather speak to him in love and discuss why he is voting for a certain candidate. 

So please don't drop friends or loved ones just because they don't vote for who you want them to vote for.

If you love people talk to them, don't bully them, you will see better results. 

I am not saying who I am voting for tomorrow that is between me and my husband. But rest assured I did my research on both candidates and I took my son to both rallys so he can see his mother make a difference in this world by practicing her right as an American citizen to vote. 

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