I believe 99% of the people vote they way they do because its advantageous for them to do so. I vote mostly Republican because I am a productive member of society who doesn't want any government entitlements and is sick and tired of floating the boat for a bunch of lazy, incompetent morons.
Ben and Lisa: Id say that there is a huge difference between a child and a fetus. Apples and oranges, if you ask me. Abortion should be available, but NOT used as a "I didnt bother using this or that last weekend, meeeh - Ill just go to the clinic!"-type of thing. Better to have it controlled and done by competent people, rather than the coat-hanger method and/or back alley Docs. I have two interesting "observations" regarding this: When I lived in Melbourne, there was a group of people that daily stood outside a clinic, with signs of bloody fetuses, bibles in their hands etc. Once it went way too far, as a man shot one of the Doctors. He died. Funny method coming from a pro-lifer... In Sweden, the Christian Democrats wanted to ban abortion all in all, no exceptions. When the debate touched the subject of rape, their answer was: "She put herself in that situation". That was about a 15-year old girl, raped by a 45 year old man. Pregnancies through incest was also something that they claimed "meant to be"... Ugh... Funny thing? When these people want to change the law, its, in 9 out of 10 cases, a board consisting of only men. I find Santorum interesting, in a very disturbing way, much like I find it interesting reading about other, very curious characters in history... Its like he missed out on evolution, literally. Things and the society arent the same as they were when the Bible was written. It would be good for his own piece of mind to land himself on THIS planet, and in THIS reality.
Speaking as one fully-developed zygote to another... The difference between a child nine minutes out of the womb and a 44 year-old man/woman is quite a bit more than fetus vs. a post-birth child. If you were an apple en utero and somehow transformed into an orange in the operating room minutes later, that is either a miracle unsolved by science or it was a faulty premise to begin with.
But abortion is, Ben? Issues of these types are probably best left out of the presidential race, as they will not be resolved by any president, no matter what his opinion on the subject. Focusing on the job they will actually be tasked with, as president, would be a much better expenditure of time and effort by the candidates in this campaign, and their willingness to do that could be an indicator of their actual fitness to deal with the issues faced by a president of our country, should they get elected.
Not really and I also said afew posts earlier: "However, I might support abortion in extreme cases, IE rape, severely deformed, etc and I don't use it as a litmus test when picking candidates." And I agree with your second paragraph. As it pertains to our current president, the guy basically had no qualifications, and BS'ed the gullible american public with some hope and change BS. Of the current serious candidates Romney IMO is the most qualified. The other two are career politician hacks in bed with special interests.
Ben and Lisa: Yes, seen plenty of those, but still: It should be up to the women whom it concerns, not "us" bystanders. I dont believe in using abortion as a "day after"-thing, but I also dont believe that its sustainable to force people to have kids. I dont like when abortion is used a "contraceptive", but I do think that in cases such as rape, incest(rape) etc. the woman should be able to make a decision, regardless what pro-lifers, religious people, politicians, boyfriends etc. say. There needs to be a balance. Accidents happen. The girl is the one whom, in most cases, will pay the highest price. To have a group of men decide the fate of many young girls, just seems so completely wrong. This surprises me, as most conservatives hate to be told what and how to do things, yet its "ok" to tell women what they should do with their bodies and futures. One has to look not only at the emotional part of it(the ultrasound of a fetus), but also from a more realistic(not the word Im after, sorry if it sounds completely messed up) view as well. Better that a fetus can be aborted early, than having mothers, in desperation, throwing away and/or killing their children once born... The worst case scenario: A mom whom isnt allowed to abort in an early stage, has the baby then kills it, only to be jailed for life or even sentenced to death. Not saying that this is the norm, but it has and will continue to happen.
He really is, Ben, and probably has the best temperament for the job. Here's an irony for you. Romney, running as a Democrat, would be facing no issue regarding his religious affiliations; no issue relating to past support for abortion; and, no issue with his achievements as governor, including his advocacy of universal health insurance coverage. He could have been running an honest campaign, based on who he is and what he has achieved with his life, instead of having to dodge and weave as he does as a Republican candidate.
Couple of points. I agree with you on rape, incest etc. However, this doesnt jive with abortion as currently practiced in the US. Most abortions are for birth control plain and simple. And now that we have the day after pill , which removes the rape/incest issue, and easily available birth control abortion should not be needed very often.
I think Romney would still catch some heat for being a Mormom even if he ran as a Dem, because most people view Mormonism as a bit odd. I think Romney is dead wrong on medicine. What needs to happen with our medical system is to have the insurance companys and government eased out of the picture, not made to play a bigger role. In fact it must happen as the current trajectory of health care costs will sink the country in the near future.
