GUEST BELI-BLOGGER LEE MCD: WHY YOUR VOTE DOES MATTER

I offer the following as an example to show that your vote DOES matter and that there IS a difference between Democrats and Republicans. I, Lee McDaniel, am both a determined partisan and a firm believer in full citizen participation in representative democracy. I favor full abortion rights, but understand others who don't. Like Bill Clinton, I believe abortion shoud be "safe, legal, and rare." You can read today's New York Times article, excerpted below, for details.

"The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first federal ban on a specific abortion procedure, ending eight years of divisive debate and clearing the way for President Bush to sign the measure into law.... Seventeen Democrats joined with 47 Republicans to give final passage to the bill, which outlaws a procedure that doctors call intact dilation and extraction but critics call partial-birth abortion.... Tuesday's action by the Senate ends the long and tortured legislative history of the ban, which was passed by Congress twice before, but vetoed both times by President Bill Clinton. This year, with Republicans controlling both houses of Congress and the White House, abortion opponents, who began pressing for the ban in 1995, knew victory would be assured."

See? Your vote does matter - no matter who you vote for. It matters! It really, really matters!

Though personally I find the very concept of abortion horrifying and barbaric, I believe that the mother's rights always supercede those of the unborn. Maybe this is an overly simplistic viewpoint, but it's the only objective opinion that also coincides with natural law. It may suck, but it's philosophically consistent. It's not a question of viability, it's a question of making choices concerning one's own body.

Yes, it does matter. I've been too discouraged by this turn of events to say much about it, but this is a huge blow for abortion rights. I am very disappointed in the senators from my state, particularly Evan Bayh, who both voted yes on the ban. At least my House representative, who I voted for, voted as I would have chosen.

To me, the issue is who has legal standing and rights. The woman clearly does. To me, the fetus has no legal standing and should not be granted any. This is consistent philosophically and is easily defensible legally, too.

My point/"view" is: "Your thoughts are YOUR thoughts and I believe they count". One by one at the voting booth. Other's thoughts may NOT be my views but YOU are entitled to have them. I am for "choices". I am glad they exist for my(and others) picking and choosing. Most times I listen and learn. A more humble me in the long run.

Will: what is "barbaric" about abortion procedures? I don't refer to a fetus as "unborn" because that is loaded language and is on a very slippery slope to granting legal status to a fetus.

Ou est le webmaster?