Election time

It feels really strange to be out of the country during elections. We don't have television here and it's rare that I get hold of a newspaper, so I've been pretty much isolated from all the election hype (apart from the onslaught of opinions that I get from facebook). I've lived in both a conservative small town and a large liberal city, so I have a healthy mix of opinions on my newsfeed. It's also been interesting living in an international household and hearing other people's views on Obama and Romney (and our voting process in general. The idea of a two-party system is completely unimaginable to most of the Europeans here. They have upwards of ten to twenty candidates to choose from come election time. And in Switzerland people don't get one vote, they get ten! That means you can give six votes to someone you really like and maybe one or two to someone you like a little bit. It gives a way more accurate view to who people actually want to rule them).

Anyway, who I'm voting for should not come as a surprise to anyone. I'm part of the LGBT community and I care about women's rights. One candidate backs me up, the other flat out said he would do what it takes to block my ability to get married and start a family. This is a no brainer for me, and hopefully for anyone who supports gay or women's rights. When there's something that affects my day-to-day life on the line, I can't even look past the issue to how the candidates stand on other things. (I will say though, as an uninsured man and a child of a formerly uninsured mother, both of whom struggled to get affordable medical care despite having full time jobs, I also support the health care reforms that are currently taking place.)

I'll be away for the next three days so I won't hear the results until mid-week, but I hope that everyone will put a lot of thought into their vote, regardless of which way you're leaning. Voting is serious business and like the last few elections, there's a huge difference in the direction that each of the candidates want to take our country. Know how your candidates stand and take some time to think about how people you know will be affected by these decisions. I'm a good person and I deserve to get married and have kids! Happy voting everyone!