I couldn't stay up late enough to watch the election returns last night but I was sure happy to wake up to the news this morning! I'm thrilled that the candidate I voted for will spend another 4 years in the White House. Watching the reactions on Facebook has been interesting. Most of my friends are rejoicing along with me but there are a handful who feel like the world is going to end - a bit extreme, a bit dramatic. Some are complaining that we're going to lose our freedoms and I'm still trying to figure out exactly which freedoms they feel we've already lost and which ones they think we're doomed to lose during the next four years. I find that particularly interesting because they don't seem to have a problem with the amount of reproductive freedom we could have lost with a Romney presidency.
There is a LIST of reasons for my desire to keep Romney out of the White House but this intense need the GOP has to be all up in our personal business was a biggie on the list. This little clip was alarming to me and one of the reasons I was worried when I saw the initial returns and the lead seemed to be bouncing back and forth between the two candidates. For one thing, his demeanor came across as extremely arrogant and short tempered. Then as expected he made it clear he's anti-choice and wants abortion banned. None of that is good or a surprise, but it got worse when he said he counseled girls to not have abortions but to "have an adoption" instead. Of course, being a Mormon, I knew that's what his stance was but it just brought it even closer to home. It's scary to me to think that we could have had a president who thinks women shouldn't have authority over their own bodies and even scarier to think he views adoption as just something to do instead - simple solution, sure, piece of cake, just have the kid and give it to someone else - easy peazy - why not.
The Handmaid's Tale anyone? Now that may seem to be extreme by some people's standards and maybe it is, but the lack of compassion that I saw in Romney is exactly where a story like this starts. I'm not saying that he personally would create this kind of horror but sadly his beliefs could be the beginning of something like it.
