I’m With Her

I’m not a celebrity, I don’t have a really large readership.  I’m a struggling author and artist.  I can say that I make absolutely, positively NO money with my writing, photography, or even my hand-made mosaics.  My only claim to fame is that my husband is an officer in the United States Air Force, and even that fact I hide (though I am immensely proud of him, I don’t deserve any credit for his success).  Yet I decided to declare, like a celebrity, who I am voting for.  Namely, because my decision is not a popular one in my community.  The responses from other veterans, neighbors, and military spouses: “Were you dropped on your head?” “You must be a special kind of stupid,” or my favorite one, “You are a traitor…”

Yep, I’m one stair step up from Bowie Bergdahl and that kid, who sold his stuff to Wiki-leaks.  I’m voting for Hillary Clinton.  Lucky for me, I own this site, so while I don’t necessarily have to explain my reasoning, but I want to explain my reasoning.  I cannot, even as a somewhat conservative individual support what the Republican Party has become.  I knew I was not going to vote for Trump the minute I saw the recording of him making fun of the reporter.  From there it was kind of a windy road to get me to not only declare for Clinton, but to completely change my political party…

First of all she’s a woman…  I used to think that was a utterly stupid reason to vote for someone, but then I got cancer and realized the inequity in female medical care versus male medical care when I tried to apply for veteran’s benefits.  My cancer was deemed service connected by the doctor at the VA, and I was still turned down for benefits, when I read many men with similar cancers were getting disability benefits.  Besides female medical benefits, I can’t see women being respected in an administration that accuses a woman of being on her period when they don’t like what she has to say.  Nor can I vote for someone, who trades in wives almost as much as he changes his underwear.  Nor can I vote for someone, who changes what he says based on the crowd he is in front of.  Nor can I vote for someone, who says he is going to punish women if they have an abortion.

Secondly, educational rights and ADA/IDEA…  This is one of the platform points that’s the most important to me.  When we first moved to Florida, my son was performing at just below grade level.  He did have some behaviors, but they were minimal.  He had a teacher that absolutely loved him.  We put him into public school, and his performance fell off. He reacted poorly to the teacher, and I could tell that the teacher did not like him.  He now cannot read, or write.  I do blame myself for some of this, but I mostly blame the school system that let him down.  I don’t see how things would improve by disbanding the Department of Education.  I don’t see a man, who makes fun of a disabled reporter as someone, who would deal compassionately with my son.  When called out for making fun of the reporter, Trumps supporters accused people of being oversensitive, or too politically correct.  Here’s the thing, people with special needs have feelings too, and those feelings count as well.  My son, though cognitively delayed is very aware of how people treat him and look at him.  He can tell when someone doesn’t like him, and so can I.

Do I really want the man, who has his finger on the button to be completely uneducated on what that button does?  Hillary Clinton never served in the military, got it.  She may have potentially killed four people, got it.  She leaked classified information on a home server, got it.  But I have the utmost confidence that she wouldn’t fly off the handle and misuse nuclear weapons.  I also know that she isn’t $250 million in debt to one of our biggest adversaries.  She knows what the nuclear triad is.  Trump had to be schooled by another candidate.  Trump may have a fair to mediocre business sense, but he doesn’t have the temperament or knowledge to manage a country in an extended war.

Finally, the name calling…  Trump has started a trend of calling opponents names.  “Crooked Hillary,” “Lying Ted,” and “Little Marco” was a real turn off for me.  It said more about Trump, than it said about any of those he opposed.  Further, when people on the Trump Train began calling Clinton Supporters names, it drove me further and further to her side.  When a politician calls people names rather than addresses issues it tells me that they are not educated, and not willing to be educated, by the real issues.  Further, it also displays a complete lack of compassion and empathy towards other people.  My political views are fluid.  I’m starkly in the middle, I could be easily compelled to vote for any political party.  When I make a decision to vote for someone calling me names does not change my mind.

These are just a few of the reasons I have decided to vote for Hillary Clinton.  If you are going to comment on my blog, please keep the discussion/comments respectful.  Anyone that makes disrespectful comments, or insults me will be blocked.

 

 

Dear Mr/Mrs Future President…

Dear Mrs. Clinton/Mr. Trump/Mr. Johnson/Mrs. Stein,

One of you will have the ultimate honor of being the next commander-in-chief.  All four of you have promised in one way, or another, to take care of veterans and military families during your campaigns.  As a military veteran and military spouse, I have an interesting insight on how you can truly help us.

First of all, throwing money at programs with a fancy name is not going to provide much help.  For the last 14 years of my husband’s 19 years of service, I have been unemployed.  For the most part, I volunteered to be the stay at home mom, but when I was ready to return to work, I discovered much to my dismay that my commission, 40% disability rating, and experience meant next to nothing.  The “real world” is like the honey badger, it doesn’t give a f(#*.  It doesn’t care that you race directed three 5-kilometer races, and raised over $70K for autism charities.  It doesn’t care that you are a published author, that you gave away your artwork that you work extremely hard on, or that you have put the free freelance for years.  The real world doesn’t care.

Secondly, please change the EFMP system for special needs children.  My son is one of those military children that have fallen through cracks.  He has been written off as uneducateable by the local school system.  He was ABUSED in a classroom, and sadly there was NOTHING I could do about it.  I tried hiring a lawyer, but the local school district had all education lawyer on retainer.  I tried writing the newspaper, and I was told by readership that they didn’t want my child bringing down the standards for their children.  I even contacted Dr. Phil, but my husband didn’t want to go to on a daily talk show.  How can you help with this?  Make school districts for ALL special education students (not just military ones) accountable for not following the law!  It is amazing how back asswards some districts are.  The military is a powerful way to affect change in educational standards for special needs kiddos.  Basically, if the military start refusing to send families to school districts that systematically ignore the law– it will hit them where it counts.  The military where I live has a strong positive impact on the local economy.  There are over 10,000 family members in the state I live in now with special needs, and if those families were to move, it would negatively impact an economy.

Finally, the number one employer for veterans is actually the US Government.  One thing the government can do to make it easier for veterans is make the application process less cumbersome.  The complicated application process makes applying for a job a daunting task.  Many veterans quit before the accomplish their application.  The transfer and application process makes it difficult for veterans and spouses apply for jobs.