Opinion on Palin

“It’s a girl.” Those three words hold so much meaning. Right about now, your mind probably bounces immediately to images of baby showers you nobly suffered through in the past. If you cringe at the thought of baby showers and pink onesies, than be not alarmed, I’m not announcing the birth of a bouncing baby girl. The girl I’m referring to is Sarah Palin, and she is the Vice Presidential Candidate for the Republican Party. For the first time in our nation’s history, a female Republican is running for Vice Presidency.

The Alaskan governor made her stunning debut Wednesday, September 3rd when she delivered her speech at the Republican National Convention. If you haven’t seen the speech, look it up online; it’s worth watching. For those of us who watched the GOP Convention, we got a first time look into the personality of this Palin, whose name most of us would never have recognized six months ago.

Now, this is a student paper, so you’re probably wondering how any of this pertains to you. If you’re like me, you’re sick to death of all of the media hype and the bickering back and forth between reporters and candidates. For most of us, this will be our first time voting. Some of us are excited, some of us are a little intimidated and unsure and some of us just don’t care about politics. Here’s the truth: we are students, but we’re citizens too, and politics will always pertain to us. It’s our job to be as informed, as educated and as active as possible. If you don’t vote, you can’t win; you’ll only ever lose.

A lot of people want to know what I, a young woman in college, think of Sarah Palin running for the VP. Will the fact that she is a woman impact my decision when the time comes for me to pull that lever? The answer to that question is no. I admire Sarah Palin. I think it is incredible that she is setting so many precedents for women and young girls and I would love to see a woman take that office. She said it herself in her speech that Wednesday, “this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.” It’s a big day for women all over the world, but her gender is not enough to get me to vote for her. Such trivial points as a person’s gender, race, or religion should never be the basis upon which we build our opinions. We vote for candidates because of what they believe and what they can do for this county; not because we approve of their ability to give birth or the color of their skin.

No, I will not vote for Sarah Palin because she is a woman. However, I will vote for Sarah Palin because of her stand on certain issues. I will vote for her because she has sought desperately over the past few years to fix the broken education system. I will vote for her because of her commitment to find alternative, clean fuel and lowering taxes for middle class families across the country. I will vote for her because she hasn’t been seeped in the political mire that surrounds most of Washington’s politicians. There’s no corruption here. She sold the governor’s private jet on EBay because she thought the money required to maintain and fly the thing should go back to the people of Alaska. That’s a far cry from former Vice President Al Gore who still flies his personal jet from speaking arrangement to speaking arrangement.

She has shown good judgment. This past April, she gave birth to a baby boy who has Down Syndrome. She knew this before she gave birth and when the doctor’s told her she had “options” she refused to abort her son. Palin can also sympathize with the struggles of most American moms; her oldest son is about to be shipped out to the front lines while her teenage daughter just announced that she is pregnant. This is a woman who is dealing with the same issues in her own personal life that most moms today deal with. She knows how we live and how we work to maintain our lives and our livelihood.

In conclusion, I’m not going to vote for Sarah Palin because she has achieved celebrity status or because she is oozing with super sticky-sweet charisma. The woman hunts moose for heaven’s sake! I’m not going to vote for Sarah Palin because she is a woman. I will vote for Sarah Palin because she is strong on the issues I support and she is not corrupted by the poisonous political venom of Washington. She is simply a typical American, the parent of a soldier, a middle class citizen; she’s so grounded and average it’s refreshing.

Listen to her words from the GOP convention: “Politics isn’t just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good and to leave this nation better than we found it. No one expects us to agree on everything. But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant’s heart.”

When Election Day comes, you are going to have the freedom to make your decision and make your opinions heard. Having the freedom to vote is one of our nation’s greatest gifts to its people. Whatever your decision, I hope you will make an informed one. Don’t let yourself be swayed by what the media, MTV, your peers, or the political analysts say. Maybe write down your beliefs and the issues that matter to you, and then see for yourself which candidate share your beliefs. This is your decision, your candidates and it is your country too.