A quiet rally and my first politcal sign

Today the Republican committee in our township held a rally at a local park. When I got the card in the mail announcing it, I was pretty excited - I'd never been to a political rally before. I thought maybe Palin or McCain themselves might be there! (They've been in PA the last few days.) Or maybe I'd see some of that Republican rage I keep hearing about.

The kids wanted to go to, and we took along a couple of their friends we brought home from church. On the way there I coached them in proper behavior. They were all thrilled with the prospect of being on the TV news. Then I told them they had to behave in a way that would be OK with their parents and grandparents if they saw it. That deflated them a bit.

Well, the excitement wore off pretty quickly and after getting their free cookie and pop they were off to the playground. (Yeah, the boy is a little old for a playground but this one had a climbing wall that's almost sort of challenging.) It looked more like a retirement home picnic than a political rally. I got to talk to a state-level candidate's handler, but not the candidate himself - he was talking with someone and she said he had to move on to his next event. No tv cameras. They may have been there earlier but left out of boredom.

I did get a McCain yard sign and yes we put it up. But I'm not voting for McCain so much as I am voting against Obama. Voting against the "socialist tsunami" that may ruin our economy. (Follow that link only if you want to be really scared.) Voting against mandatory volunteerism and universal not-yet-but-soon mandatory preschool. (Think it won't ever be mandatory and think once it is he won't be going after homeschoolers? Call me paranoid, go ahead.) Voting against the biased press and voter registration fraud. Voting against the idea that it's OK to call a sitting President a terrorist and call for his death, but not OK to say that a candidate has a terrorist for a buddy. Voting against abortion any time, for any reason. Voting against Nancy Pelosi. Voting for free speech and not worrying that the slightest critical comment toward the President will be an indication of my racism because I must dislike him simply because he's black.

I don't remember my parents ever speaking badly about any President. I think, though we never talked about it, that they would think it right to teach children to respect their elected officials. So if it's to be President Obama, I'll teach my kids to respect him even if we don't agree with his policies. But I hope I don't have to do that.

Oh, in church today our pastor prayed that God would grant us a better President than we deserve. Indeed.