Election Day!

Election Day is HERE! Go out and vote, people. No excuses. Your vote DOES count.

To my Iowa peeps: First Christian Church on the corner of University and 25th has voting today (registration on the spot!)

Perspectives

From blogs.babble.com

First things first: GO VOTE!

Politico has an interesting article today on the prospects and possibilities of Sarah Palin possibly picking up the GOP nomination for 2012. It is assumed that Palin, who is releasing her second book, America by Heart this month (on the 23rd), will run for president. I’ve heard numerous arguments that she won’t, but surely this non-stop campaign via her book tour for Going Rogue, her presumed book tour for America by Heart, daughter Bristol’s appearance on Dancing With the Stars, and her many speeches around the country, including Iowa, where caucuses will be held and the campaigns jumpstarted, means a run will soon be announced. I personally will be shocked if she doesn’t. Call me an old-fashioned spotlight-hater, but why would you spend that much time touring the country, enduring endless crowds and awkward questions and having to worry about every single thing you say, do, and wear because it’ll all be scrutinized by the press… if you’re NOT trying to gain something politically?

Politco’s article presents an interesting predicament though: GOPers love Sarah… but she won’t beat Obama. (Interestingly enough though, the consensus seems to be that Obama’s chances of winning reelection are pretty slim… that’s taken independently from the GOP nomination though.) Could her affiliation with the extremist tea partiers hurt her chances of getting the moderate GOP vote? Does she have any chance at all of getting general moderates (moderates between GOP and democrat, I mean) and independents to vote for her over Mr. President or any other democrat candidate? I don’t know what the conclusion is here, but there’s certainly a stir forming over Politico’s recent articles, and Palin has apparently denounced Politico as a source of “yellow journalism” in response to them. What do you guys think? I suspect presidential campaigns are going to go into full swing here after the midterm elections end this week. Yay for exciting campaign times in US history again! The beginning is always the best… at least in my opinion. This is when everything’s still up for grabs.

Arizona Immigration Law

Please read at least one of these. Inform yourself if you haven’t already:

San Francisco Chronicle: Senator Sylvia Allen (R-AZ) explains the law and its implications in her own terms

CNN: CNN Correspondent Tom Foreman writes a letter to Obama asking for alternative suggestions on how to handle the immigrant situation in border states

New York Times: lawmakers look to Federal government to respond to Arizona situation

What do you guys think? Arizona has passed new legislation that basically makes it against state law to be an illegal citizen. State officials can stop someone they suspect of being an illegal citizen (though supposedly they’re prohibited from doing so solely based on race or ethnicity). Both parties have a number of members against the legislation, though it was enacted by Arizona’s republican legislative body. I’m pretty staunchly liberal, but, as much as I hate to say it, I’m not sure I’m completely on one side or the other, though my party seems to be heavily against it. I worry about racial profiling. That’s my biggest concern here, and it seems to be the big concern for many people that are against it. I’m very against racial profiling. However, I’m also against lawbreaking and receiving benefits you don’t pay taxes for. I’m very sympathetic to the woes of immigrants–I understand that they come to America for a reason, and I am fully for making the citizenship process easier. But as it stands right now, the fact of the matter is, there’s a large population of people that doesn’t pay taxes yet is using our roads, our schools, our hospitals, our social services, etc, without paying for them. I’m so torn here on this law. I think these people deserve a chance at life the way I’ve lived it. I’ve been so lucky to live the life I’ve lived, and that’s what it’s been–pure luck and chance that I was born in this country. Some people don’t have that privilege… why should they suffer? But they are still here illegally. I have been wracking my brain for an easier solution than what Arizona has decided upon to solve the immigration problem but I can’t think of anything. What would you guys do?