I like politics. I've always been interested in the way our government works. I love a good political debate. I thrive during elections. During the 2008 presidential election, I was part of a group on Wartburg's campus called First in the Nation (FIN). For this program, we paired up with a school in New Hampshire and studied the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primaries. We followed the current election from the beginning, the announcements, the rallies, the caucuses and primaries, the campaigning, the DNC and RNC and finally the election. We spent time out in New Hampshire with our fellow FINs and they spent some time in Iowa with us. It was a great opportunity and I met a lot of amazing people - including many of the presidential candidates and even President Obama (before he was president, of course!). I had a seat at Obama's speech at the DNC in Denver. I was a part of history.
I have a lot of thoughts when it comes to politics. Not just politics either - but the events and issues that are intertwined with politics. I sometimes have a hard time keeping these thoughts to myself. And as we start to begin the process of another presidential election, there's a good chance I'll probably have some thoughts through it. And I'll probably want to share those thoughts. :) So I'm going to use this blog to do that. I understand however, that not everyone cares about my political thoughts and that's fine. I understand some people read this blog to be kept up to date on what's going on in mine and AJ's life. And so in fairness to them: for any blog that I'm going to write about politics or my thoughts on current events, I will start the title with PB&J which stands for Political Blog and Junk. (Clever, right? Funny thing is I don't even like PB&J sandwiches, but love politics! haha) That way everyone has a 'warning' in case they don't care what I have to say!
When I first started writing this blog, there were some issues that I wanted to address. Well, time got away from me and now those news stories are no longer current. Actually, I'm not even sure I can remember what all the stories were even about! I do know that there have been a lot of stories I've read lately on the ban on gay-marriage vote in Minnesota. There's a lot going on with that and as it is my home state, I feel personally involved - even if I'm not currently living there. It breaks my heart to see things like this pass through the legislature because there is no good reason to deny rights to anybody. And unfortunately, this 'theme' is all over the United States. Another story that really disturbed me was one that came out of Tennessee. A bill was signed into law by the governor that basically promotes discrimination against LGBTs. How anyone can think this is a good idea, I have no idea.
What I do know is that things need to change. We need to continue to stand up for equal rights. We need to be allies against discrimination. And it starts with you.
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