Confession: I am a Former Liberal Democrat

C'mon, who's shocked? Oh wow.... really? Well, this may be a sort of "the gist of it" post because I have work so it has to be quick. I'll promise to explain as well as I can with my limited time.

Yes, I am a former liberal Democrat. The first presidential election I voted in was in 2004 -- the race between George Bush and John Kerry. This was almost two years prior to my reversion. I was young. I was incredibly ignorant and naive. I wasted my vote on John Kerry. I was apathetic to politics and my parents were registered Democrats so I went along with what they and my friends said. I didn't bother looking into the issues. All I knew was that Democrats supposedly helped the poor and the "little people" while Republicans were the opposite. Again, I was young and ignorant. Plus, Kerry was "Catholic" and, well, I was "Catholic" too so why not? Oh, how wrong I was.

I supported a lot of things that liberals support. I was poorly catechized and did not know my faith beyond reciting an Our Father and a Hail Mary. How on earth I was allowed to do my confirmation without proper study at 13 is beyond me. I look back and cringe at the things I said and did but, as I said, I was young and ignorant (and, yes, I will keep repeating this.) It's not a good excuse but it's the truth.

I wasn't living the best life then either. I've never drunk alcohol, done drugs, smoked, or done anything with anyone that I would be ashamed to tell my future husband. In that way, I have always been a "good girl." I did, however, do a lot of stupid things (i.e. lie over the stupidest things; part of why I detest lying so much now) and I was easily swayed. Even then, when my friends were all on the "ugh, religious/conservatives need to lay off" train, I wasn't 100% convinced.

Looking back, the first sign that I would soon leave that world came when my then best friend told me she was having an abortion. She was not the first friend to have one (another friend had had one at the age of 14). I was shocked. She already had a baby (a beautiful baby boy) so I couldn't understand why she would want to kill her own innocent child. Yes, even during those "lost" years, I knew that she was carrying a human being, not a "clump of cells" as some liberals repulsively call a baby. She told me that she simply couldn't have the child as she could barely handle her firstborn. I was against it but I "supported" her... and by "supported" I meant I would be there for her during the aftermath. I was against it and wished she would change her mind but I didn't think there was anything I could do about it. After that, I felt so disgusted that I pulled away. That, along with other factors, caused me to slowly leave those "friends" behind. To this day, I am so sad and so repulsed with myself for having said that I "supported" her when I really didn't... and more so for not saying anything. And, for the record, this and other things have long been confessed.

I was "against the war" (the way liberals presented it) though my high school sweetheart was (and still is) in the U.S. Army and my childhood sweetheart is in the U.S. Navy. I was grateful to them for their service but I as a "liberal Democrat" couldn't support it. Again, say it with me this time, I was young and ignorant. Oh, and don't get me started on the whole issue of gay marriage. You can probably guess what my thoughts were on it (again, received my information from the hateful liberal spew I heard on a daily basis), before I knew the true sanctity of marriage. This last comment will lose me some of my last liberal friends but I can't hide my beliefs. It wouldn't be fair to myself or to God.

When I returned to the Church, I saw that a lot of errors of my youth. (btw, my "lost years" were between the ages of 14 and 21.) The Roman Catholic Church did nothing to me... except show me the truth and love. I spent a long time hating myself for what I had once supported, though I had been told on a regular basis (by priests) not to be so hard on myself. While I had sinned, I had done it out of ignorance. As a poorly catechized young woman who was never taught that the things I supported were wrong, I didn't know better. Now I do.

While I haven't been too vocal about my support for a specific presidential candidate or anything of the like, I can say, with honesty, that this is the first time in three elections that I really looked at the candidates and the issues. The last one, I voted for McCain-Palin because of Obama's pro-choice record (which has since gotten worse). This time around, I will be voting Romney-Ryan. While I don't agree with everything on Romney's agenda, I believe that the unborn and religious freedom would be better protected with him as president than under Obama-Biden. While I'm not a registered Republican nor have I been a registered Democrat for a while now, I am voting as a Catholic. I am voting for life and for changes that will help this nation pick ourselves up from the economic and moral mess we're in. Needless to say, this is the second time I will NOT be voting for Obama. Also, every time I read this, I am reminded of how I should be voting this election:

"Put no trust in princes,
in mere mortals powerless to save." (Psalm 146:3)

First time young voters, please do yourselves, your consciences, and your souls a favor and vote carefully. Don't let the mainstream media tell you anything. Don't be swayed by anyone's sweet talk. Look at the issues and candidates for yourself. Pray that you and others make the right decisions because, as cheesy and cliche as this may be, this future really is in your (and my) hands.

... and this was officially longer than I planned. Oops. lol. Oh well. The little lady is coming over soon for tutoring so I shall go.

I hope we all stand together and make the right choices tomorrow. My prayers are with you. :)

And now, off to tutoring and trying to not feel crummy (cold-like symptoms are threatening once again).

As always, thanks for reading and God bless.

Changes on Blog; Register to Vote!

Semi-quick blog tonight because I have an appointment at the optometrist. My eyes are getting worse. I can't even see properly with either glasses or contacts anymore. I made it through an hour and about 10 minutes (leaving a bit early) of my English Lit class because my head and eyes were seriously aching. On the bright side, my group's pretty much ready for the presentation in that classes; we just have to rehearse. Is it bad that I'm looking forward to dressing up one of the guys in the group as a girl? Hey, it's Shakespeare and it's historically accurate (not to mention hilarious). Teehee. lol.

I changed the blog template as well as removed some widgets. I also added some new links and things. After 10 months of the same thing, I needed to change it a bit. I'll hopefully personalize (change) the template even more when I have time to work on it. I think the simplicity of this new one. Whoo! :D

I do not normally discuss politics because I try to avoid conflict and arguments. I will say that I am about to change my political party. I registered (on the day of my 18th birth date, no less) as a Democrat because both of my parents are Democrats. Of course, since coming back to the Church and really learning about the Dems and the Republicans, I decided I needed to change my affiliation. Man, a lot of change going on today, eh? lol. Anyway, I've decided to register as not having a political party. Yes, you can do that. Well, at least in California you can. I don't agree with much of the liberal points of the view in the Democratic party, but I also dislike some Republican points of view (especially when it comes to discrimination against illegal immigrants -- don't get me started on that topic!). Remaining neutral is best. When it comes to nominating the NEXT candidate for president in another 4 years, I might re-register if I feel strongly about a candidate.

One more thing... I stumbled on this video of Eduardo Verastegui urging voters to make the right decision this coming presidential election. It's in Spanish but it has subtitles for those of you who don't speak or understand Spanish. (Thank goodness my parents raised me bilingual!)


Makes you think, doesn't it? I'm going to get A LOT of grief from some of my friends for what I just posted but I needed to. I don't even want to think what they'd say if they knew how I was voting on the California Prop 8. If you know about the proposition, it doesn't take much to guess how I'm voting. I have some friends who aren't Catholic, or even Christian, so we don't see eye to eye on issues like these. In fact, I've lost two close friends because I'm against things (like birth control and abortion) that they are in favor of. Yes, seriously.

And... funny thing, I received this in the mail while writing the blog. (Love the coincidence.) :D

From Journey of a Catholic Nerd Writer

Alright, well I must go. Keep your fingers crossed that my eyesight won't stay this crummy... or get worse! Nope, I'm gonna be optimistic. :D As always, thanks for reading and God Bless.
.

Ash Wednesday, Lent, Football Internationals and Elections.

Ash Wednesday has come and gone. I, unfortunately, didn't even make it to my local parish (which is about 2 minutes away) because I was in bed all day today. Dizzy feelings, a lot of fatigue, nausea, etc... not a pretty picture. I don't think I would've had the strength to wait in line to get my ashes if I had gone to church. :( I was looking for to it, too. So, this marks the second year in a row I haven't received ashes on Ash Wednesday and it's sad. :( Last year, my dad was really sick with his chemo so we couldn't do anything. This year I was sick, mom has another severe cold so she's been sleeping whenever she can and dad has his at-home chemo so he isn't completely able to do much either. Bah! Luckily, it isn't mandatory to have ashes but still... it doesn't make me feel right for some reason. :( Next year will (hopefully) be better because there's an actual chapel on campus and they hold masses and everything so I can just walk from my dorm room to the chapel. :D

Today, (well, technically yesterday because it's past midnight) Lent began. I tried my hardest to fast for as long as I could... which was 11 hours and 45 minutes. I tried to make it to noon but I began to feel reeeally sick and I said "Forgive me Lord, but I have to eat or else I will get even more sick." I didn't eat meat (yay!) and had to remind my mom not to even eat chicken. Technically, we're all excused from fasting (dad's over 60 and mom and I both have that thing where we have to eat every 2-3 hours or else we get sick -- it's genetic) but I tried to do a bit of it. Now, I have to eat and eat because of those hours I didn't eat. I have a busy day later today which is why I am trying to regain some of the strength I lost from the mini-fast. Blah.

Oh, and I watched my last football (soccer) matches today (err, yesterday) because I didn't give up international matches, but I will not watch ANY of the Liverpool FC matches... which is the hardest thing because they are playing Chelsea this weekend and it's going to be one of those games you can't miss. Bah! lol. Well, at least I got to see pretty good games. England beat Switzerland 2-1 (whoooo!) and Mexico and the U.S. tied. I'm neutral when it comes to those teams so I was fine with the 2-2 draw. I was excited to see Steven Gerrard as England captain because I am a sucker when it comes to him. lol. The USA-Mexico game was good because it was a lot more physically aggressive... especially when one of the Mexican players and Tim Howard (the U.S. goalkeeper) started kicking and pushing each other down. Oh man... the rivalry between these two teams is insane. Dad managed to watch most of the game (in between dosing off and trying to stay awake) just because he loves "how bad the Mexican team has gotten." Watching the game with dad was seriously the highlight of my day because he and I crack up over the dumbest things. lol.

Before I wrap up my blog for today (I am hungry and it's nearly 1 a.m.)... I would like to say that I didn't vote for their candidate that won California. That's right, I didn't vote for McCain or Clinton. Personally, I'd love to see Huckabee win the Republican nomination. For the Democratic side, Obama is (in my opinion) the better candidate. Ultimately, I would like to see Huckabee as president. I am technically registered as a Democrat but that's because when I registered at 18, I was very liberal with politics. Now that I've gotten back to everything, I'm more moderate than anything(not too liberal but not too conservative) so I'm going to be changing my political party... mostly likely to Independent. I do consider myself to be closer to the Republican party but I don't always agree with what the candidates have to offer so I'd like to be able to vote either way. If anyone wants to sway me to go completely Republican or Democrat, please be my guest... you can post a comment below. :D

Alright, well... I have to get up early tomorrow for an appointment and then run some errands so I could quit writing for tonight and get some food in my tummy before I call it a night. Thanks for reading and God Bless. :D