Is Holding the Lind Progress?

Holding the Line

When I think about voting it's hard to get excited.  I voted for President Obama last time but as a former rant via this blog shows, I am not always happy with his actions. 

Since I mostly think that multi-national corporations and Huge banks run governments and have for some time, I have to ask myself, "Am I just a Fool to vote?"

But I was lucky to hear the results of a local  Democratic strategy Session the other day.  Presidential candidate Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan have told us what they intend to do, sort of.

President Obama has said what he will do and it is Not significantly different than what he promised during his first run for office.

So the meeting had to consider how to present President Obama in a positive light.  Then someone made the Relevant point that considering all of the legislation proposed by the President which was blocked by Congress and all of the legislation the Democratically controlled Senate refused to pass, maybe President Obama did ok by just "Holding the Line."

Consider how many times, (either three or four) a mostly Republican group in Congress has tried to overturn the Affordable Care Act, known as "Obamacare".  Each time this happened it cost you and me (taxpayers) millions of dollars.  But in spite of individual states deciding to try and ignore this law to protect children and all citizens, (while they Don't complain about Mandatory car insurance to protect property) the Democrats and the President have "held the line" on expanding medical coverage with an emphasis on preventive care.

When the President changed the "don't ask, don't tell" rule concerning gay and lesbian service members, he went about it wisely, asking the heads of each branch of the armed forces to confer with leadership in that branch and find out if they felt this issue could be dealt with, through legislation and training.  After receiving their opinions that it could, though with some difficulty, the President changed the law.

These are the easiest things to point out in which the President both kept former campaign pledges And "held the line".

President Obama has gotten most of our troops out of Iraq.  This is another former campaign pledge mostly kept. 

I disagree with the President's policy in Afghanistan.  I wish he had given less to the big oil companies and More to alternative energy development.  There are many issues on which I disagree with President Obama.  But he has also "held the line" to the best of his ability For the use of birth control (no, you Shouldn't take that for granted, especially if you are a teenager in one of the states which has passed a strict anti-abortion law regardless of  Any  circumstances.) and for a woman's right to choose an abortion rather than to have a child she does not want or whom she cannot feed or provide with basic medical care.  He and I believe that using birth control devices or medications are Much preferred over abortion!

 I know three women who have had abortions, and all of them are stil concerned about the choices they made years ago, even though they all believe they made the best choices they could at the time.  While I'm sure there are some women who don't give it a second thought, I have never met one.  Even the woman who had an abortion as a teenager,  because her child belonged to the father who began raping her at age three didn't feel good about it.

One of the women already had six kids, several of whom were teens, and she became pregnant with a "late in life" baby.  As one of her kids already had a disability, she was working full time, and her husband had just developed diabetes, she chose not to begin raising another child.  I do not have the right to judge her, does anyone?

Several studies have shown that while people switch parties when voting for president, they tend to vote their Congresspeople in again and again, regardless of their voting records.  I am going to be Very careful about Who I vote for as a supposed representative of my views. 

A second term president wants to leave a beneficial legacy which history and the public will remember them by.  If President Obama has this same urge, my hope is that he will be Able to do so.

There are Many issues to discuss. I do Not agree with all of the President's policies or actions.  But I will be giving him my vote, if for no other reason than the fact that he has tried to "Hold the line" against the tide of anger which is justified, but which has turned conservative in political outlook.  I do not believe America is financially "broke".  I think the world is being ROBBED by those who can rob it. 

I don't see Any candidate brave enough to break up banks into regular commercial banks, (financing homes and businesses) from speculators who deal in "dirivitives" and other questionable practices.  But maybe preventing some situations  from worsening is worth preserving.

Please, people, take a few minutes and Check Out those you and I send to Congress?