Enough, Already!

I have tried really hard to stay away from political bullshit in the last few months, especially via social networks. I have plenty of opinions and I am more than happy to share them. However, when it comes to politics I tend to keep quiet because it generally isn't worth the battle. Until now. Now, I am sick and fucking tired of this battle between female voters. I have had enough of seeing the women on my facebook feed and beyond making the asinine claim that "self-respecting women" wouldn't vote for Mitt Romney. Or how about that gem from Eva Longoria who claimed that "any woman who doesn't vote for Obama is an idiot". Well, Ms. Longoria, you and I seriously disagree. Unlike you, I make decisions using my brain and not my vagina. Unlike you, I have earned every job I've ever had based on merit and not because I have a pretty face. My husband and I earn a living by working our asses off and living within our means, not by having sub-par acting skills and a tight ass.

For those of you who have asked, "how could any self-respecting woman vote for Mitt Romney?", here's how. There are many well-informed, intelligent women in this country, myself included, who have more important things to worry about than our right to have an abortion. I realize that the debate goes deeper than that one issue, but let's be honest, that's the front runner. I am pro-choice. I always have been and I always will be. But at this juncture in my life abortion rights are not a top priority. I'm also pretty sure that Mitt Romney doesn't give a shit either way about abortion and is now in the pro-life camp because he needs those votes. Even if he is elected, and even if he is a staunch pro-lifer, it isn't like he can just walk into the oval office and change the law. It takes more than one person to overturn a supreme court ruling. I am also tired of the idea that Mitt is so anti-women that he can somehow set us back decades. That is just a bunch of malarkey. I agree that he has made some less than favorable comments (hello, binders full of women, whatever the fuck that means) and it is true that Obama has done wonderful things for women (the Lilly Ledbetter Act, for one). Again, no one, not even the president, is so powerful that they can just suddenly take away the rights that women have fought so hard for. Are we seriously worried that our right to vote will be taken away? Or that it will be socially acceptable for women to be paid less than their male counterparts? While the Lily Ledbetter Act made it illegal for women to be paid less than men for the same job, anyone who thinks that women are now paid equally is completely ignorant in the ways of business. I understand that a lot of women are worried about the availability of birth control or the right to make their own health decisions. Let's be clear on one thing: no one is threatening to take those away. The ONLY health decision at risk is the right to an abortion. Contraception is still going to be available and covered by insurance. Considering the fact that most republican candidates are completely 100% against all abortions, Mitt Romney seems pretty liberal on the subject comparatively.

What all of this boils down to is that my main concerns right now are based on what is best for the country, not what is best for the small percentage of voters who are directly effected by the possibility of overturning Roe v. Wade. I am concerned about the ridiculous deficit and climbing unemployment rate. I am worried about the demise of the middle class and my ability to send all of my children to college. My husband works 80 hours a week to keep us living the life we lead; we shouldn't have to make such sacrifices so that some lazy asshole who refuses to get a real job can still have an iPhone. Obama has done nothing of consequence in the last 4 years. Nothing has improved. It is time to give someone else a chance. I am a self-respecting woman, and while I have been accused of being many things, an idiot is not one of them. And I, my friends, am not voting for Obama. All of the name calling and finger pointing and degrading that women are doing to each other right now is more damaging to our gender than any man could ever be. A woman who wakes up in the morning, forms her own opinions, and lives her life on her own terms is a self-respecting woman. No woman who fights for what she believes in and votes from her heart is an idiot. Once we as women get that fact into our brains we can really finish the fight for equality, regardless of who is sitting in the oval office.