VP Palin And Teenage Pregnancy – A Bad Influence?
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September 8th, 2008
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The last ten days or so have been filled with news and reports about female Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The election was already something out of the ordinary with Obama as a pick but Palin widens the perspective even more. Shortly after she was picked, she reported her 17 year old daughter being pregnant. Teenage pregnancy is a huge problem in US and both teenage mothers and their kids face enormous challenges and a grim future. Considering teenage pregnancy something a parent wants to avoid at almost all cost, is Palin a bad influence? Or is she instead an inspiration and someone who despite teenage pregnancy in the family will create a surge of positive changes if elected?
Politics is normally completely boring but this election is different. Palin brings so many new things to the scene with perspective I find to be nonexistent among lawmakers today. It's grumpy old men who are in charge and priorities are clear. Big business, oil, tax breaks, personal favors, defense, and lobbyists are priority 1 to 100. Somewhere far below one can catch a glimpse of health care, energy policy, family, and environment. Wouldn't it be great with a fresh mind in politics?
What's so interesting, and also possibly useless, about Palin is that her strengths are also possible weaknesses. Governor of Alaska or mayor of her town can't be taken seriously. I've faced more pressure before breakfast than she does during a month as a mayor. No one can seriously believe she has any experience in managing large scale operations. Sounds very negative. It can be but I can also imagine this being a huge advantage for her and the country. Someone with a fresh brain not stuck in the same old grumpy men thinking. While her job experience is far from impressive, she's a mother of five and any involved parent know only a very capable person could handle this successfully. I see endless possibilities but also some problems if she can't handle the pressure.
She's a mother or five and her teenage daughter is pregnant. What a publicity nightmare. Or is it? A normal teenage daughter face a very negative future if pregnant but hopefully Palin's daughter will be different. I can see people saying she's a bad example for kids but also the exact opposite. How refreshing we have someone as a VP who is used to facing challenges in life which "normal people" struggle with. A child with Downs syndrome? Can you imagine what great perspective she has and the wonders she will do for research?
What about her influence on health care and family benefits? I don't expect her changing the whole country but it's really cool to see her husband being so involved with the kids. Perhaps people in general start seeing men as capable fathers and not clueless idiots who has no idea about taking care of a child?
Palin will probably be an amazing VP if elected but I could never vote for her. McCain is as bad as Bush and won't change a thing. It's business as usual. My dream team would have been Obama and Palin, can you imagine the possibilities!? I would vote for Palin if she was the presidential candidate and McCain her VP choice. How about a switch? Actually, I take that back. I don't like people who are against abortion. I'm all pro-kids after having two myself but I find the no abortion stand too inflexible and against women's rights.
But we still need more female influence in US politics. Looking at my current location Sweden, where 45% of parlament are women, US is till stuck in the stoneage. Despite Palin's lack of experience, how bad could it possible be? Even if she was President, she couldn't possible fuck up things more than Bush did during the past 8 years.
Popularity: 7% [?]
To me, experience in government is not the important thing. Unfortunately, most people think that it is a politician’s job to manage and run things.
The Soviets took that idea as far as it could go. (F.A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises knew that it would not work.)
Obama and McCain are cut from the same cloth. They think that it will be their jobs to “run the country”. How sad. It is such a fool’s errand. Mostly sad for us, though, because we will suffer the consequences of their foolish actions.
So how about Palin? The problem is that it is hard to tell what she thinks about the role of government in our lives. But as you say, it is McCain who would be president.
I don’t want McCain running my life any more than I want Obama or Palin. None of them will get my vote.
The problem I have with Sarah Palin is her stance on abortion and sex education. She basically believes in teaching abstinence only rather than promoting safe sex. Are we to believe that is an effective strategy given that it obviously didn’t work in her situation?
Also, I don’t think it matters at all that she’s a woman. If she was an old, white guy, it would be business as usual. Nobody would be singing these praises (she has 5 kids, one is a special needs, etc) if it was man.