by Patricia Rainford

Created on: October 31, 2008

Dear Undecided Voter,

I know your pain because I am there, too.
I don't generally write about politics. I can't stand politics. I don't understand politics. I don't know enough of the jargon politicians use to understand if they are BSing me or not. But as an American citizen, I have a duty, an obligation, to make a decision in the scope of what would not only be best for me and my family but for the country as a whole. As a person born overseas to a man serving our country, I feel honored to have the freedom to vote. Many countries do not have this honor and less than 100 years ago, women didn't even have the freedom to vote. So I feel like not voting would be a slap in the face of all those people who struggled to give us this right.

Despite reading the websites, watching the news coverages following the campaigns, and despite trying to sort through endless waters of information, (and despite my father's attempts to sway me to one side) I am still undecided. Less than a week away, I'm still not sure who to vote for. Some people have told me to just vote for a third party or write in a candidate. I once voted like that because in my heart, I felt it was the right thing to do. I don't feel like that in this election.

After going over the information made available to me, I can say that there are things I like about each candidate as well as things I don't like. For instance, the abortion issue is something I feel strongly about. I like that John McCain is pro-life. (I could easily go off on a tangent about abortion but that's not what this is about.) But I'm not sure his plans for economic change is sound. Barack Obama has some good ideals about various subjects as well, but I don't like how he has went from the campaign for President to "Jesus Christ, Superstar!" He even said, and I quote, "I AM awesome." How 'bout a little humble modesty? On the flip side, a recent article in Parent's magazine got a great interview with him and his wife. The photo spread showed a close family of all four Obama's. Eager to read the John McCain version, I turned the page and see only a picture of Cindy McCain... with an interview solely with Cindy McCain. Barack made time for the interview. What was so important that ole' John couldn't make it? Does he leave all the parenting to Cindy?

Now before someone gets all huffy about my comments, let me tell you that these are the types of things that the average non-political, undecided, American sees. I'm not looking for a debate, I'm not looking for a garble of information that I can't understand.

The act of voting itself is a matter of stress. If I vote for a candidate that doesn't win, then I'm convinced that my vote on a small scale doesn't count. If I vote for a candidate that does win, and he doesn't do what he said he would do, then I have no one but myself to blame. If I don't vote at all, I don't have the right to gripe about anything. Am I over thinking things? Probably. And I doubt I'm the only person that thinks like this.

So don't try to sway me in one direction or the other. Don't call me names because I don't know all the details, don't say I'm not intelligent because I don't understand the technical aspects of it. I'm sure we will figure it out when the day comes. We, the undecided lot, will vote with our hearts.

I'm your average working-class American woman. I have a husband, two boys, and my own home. I'm a fiction writer, a creative thinker, someone who likes to find more than one way to get from point A to point B.

I'm an undecided voter, too.

Learn more about this author, Patricia Rainford.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.