Oh wait no, just kidding. Let’s get political! Just like some other blogs I read.

Why Stephanie? Why would you commit such an etiquette sin? Because it couldn’t be the week before the election without me weighing in. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve reached my breaking point from seeing far too many entirely false bulletins and email forwards pass in front of my eyes. Or maybe it’s the fact that I am just so inspired to be in Florida right now, where the campaign trail has exploded in this epic battle for crucial electoral votes, and because of that fact I am anxiously looking forward to seeing two American leaders tomorrow evening. Maybe it’s because for the past year I’ve been so involved and informed about the election. It has occupied a good portion of my thoughts. And this is the first time in my life that I’ve been political.

Why?

Okay I’ll tell you. I grew up in Bakersfield, California. The most conservative city in California, and the 8th most conservative in the entire United States. Don’t believe me? I grew up not wanting to be a doctor or an astronaut, but a Republican. Did I know anything about any of the issues? No. Did I know what the differences were between Democrats and Republicans? Only that Republicans were cooler. Because that’s what all my classmates and all my teachers were in elementary school. I was ashamed (ashamed!) of that fact that my parents were democrats. Oh for shame! Only poor people are democrats!

At least that is what I thought while I lived in Bakersfield. I moved to Fresno for college and became completely adverse to any sort of politics. Why? Who knows, maybe as I became more educated in college, learned about economics, and broadened my skewed little Bakersfield outlook on the world, I found myself at a turning point and was unwilling to accept the fact that my parents were (gasp!) right!

Then I moved to the Bay Area of California. And wow! Those “mansions” in Bakersfield? Nothing compared to the homes on my street. Okay, so I don’t live in one of them, but “technically” I share a street with $2+ million dollar mansions (and by technically I mean down the street quite a ways, but still very much the same road). And I drive by their vineyards and their iron gates that are guarded by lion statues, I wonder, why would Bakersfield residents be Republican and moan about taxing the wealthy if very few if any of them are technically wealthy? Especially if you look at the bay area’s political views and median income and compare it to Bakersfield’s median income of much less. Also, why would you vote for a plethora of issues solely based on religion if the other candidate holds the same values as you do? I’m sure people have their own reasons for voting the way they do, but I just hope that they are legitimate reasons and not out of social pressures or of misinformation, as I experienced while growing up.

I’ve spent the past year in many discussions with my husband, reading the news, watching the debates, and trying to understand all the facts and how they affect me in my everyday life. I’ve put more thought into this election than I have put into a lot of other areas of my life. So when I see people pass along erroneous and, to be honest, ridiculous information, I am sad. SAD to see how false information flows so freely through a lack of knowledge. A lack of understanding. A lack of desire to know the truth. Taxing the wealthy is taking away their hard-earned money? Only if you count passive income and capital gains as hard-earned. The majority of things I see and hear being talked about with regards to the tax plans are not accurate. (Just trust me on this one, unless you’d like a lengthy discussion. I mean this is my career and all). Obama is a Muslim and the antichrist? Muslims are angry and going to kill all Americans? STOP! How can you allow yourselves to pass on such hateful words? How can you associate your name as a courier of such slander? What makes you any different from those you claim to distrust when you yourself pass on lies as truths? How can I trust you?

So what then is true? Why don’t you start by reading the facts. Not on Fox News. Not on MSNBC. Start here and here. Take off your partisan hat for a moment and reflect on the truths. Think about the economy and how tax cuts for the wealthy have affected us through today. Think about whether this war we are fighting is even something to win. Think about whether we should being investing in our own country rather than Iraq. To conclude, I will leave you with something tangible to think about: why would the estate tax, whose exemption threshold of $2 million is already unattainable for 99% of estates, need to be taxed at lower rates and only for estates over the increased $5 million threshold as McCain has proposed? Does that seem like greed coming from the wealthy?

I think so.