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I Will Decide Who to Vote For!

Important issues in the presidential election include: How do Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama feel about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? What will they do about those wars? Will troops be pulled out of those countries, no matter what else is happening in the world, as soon as one of them becomes President, if they win the election?

What would they do about the national economy? Do they plan on budgeting for infrastructure in this country to build and maintain dams, bridges, levees, and other national items like highways, or will all of the money be spent in other countries?

How would both of them pay for the national medical insurance plans they support and all of the other programs they are proposing? Are they planning on raising taxes? Since it is an election year, I doubt that either of them would publicly say that they plan on raising taxes. If not, then how would they pay for those programs? What is their stand on border security?

Speaking of security, would they keep this country safe, and if so, how? Would the military that has been stretched so thin this decade be increased? Where is all of this money coming from?

Issues that are not important: Sex and Race of the candidates. As a woman, I am tired of being told not only that I should vote for Hillary Clinton, but that I will vote for her just because we are the same sex. It is true that she is a woman, as am I. How would that affect how I vote, though?

I imagine that African-Americans feel the same way about being told they will and must vote for Obama. I feel the same about voting for or against him as I do about voting for or against Clinton. His race is not the only quality he has, and it should not be the only reason people vote for or against him.

The so-called Women's Liberation movement said, in fact demanded, that men and women be treated the same in every way. Contradicting that, why are they now saying that women should vote for Clinton just because she is a woman? Isn't that a bit hypocritical?

How can they say that men and women who support the Women's Liberation movement have to vote for a female candidate just because she is a female? Aren't these the same women who said that political candidates should be judged on their qualifications, not their sex?

The Civil Rights movement said that black and white people were the same, and that race should not be a deciding factor in choices of candidates. What has changed over the last 40 years that makes voting for or against someone because of their race or sex all right to do? If it was discriminatory to do in earlier times, it still is discriminatory.

News anchors and analysts have been surprised by the primary election results. Americans are voting for whom they want, not whom they were told to vote for. The Constitution does not say that the news media should run the country. This government is supposed to be by the people and for the people.

It is past time for the people of this country to take back governing the country. We all will decide whom to vote for based on their stance on issues, not on their sex or race.

Learn more about this author, Ruth Scalpone.
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