I am a woman. I am single, never married. I am an only child. My biological parents are still happily married. I am Latin. I am Indian (dots, not feathers … 7-11, not casinos.) I am wholly American, born in Manhattan, raised in South Florida. I have a higher-level education. I was raised in a upper middle-class household, I wanted for nothing. My parents have been small business owners my whole life. I own property. And I lease property.

What conclusions can be drawn about me given then above information? What can you glean from it? What demographical boxes am I placed in? Which politicians think that they can cater/pander to me? The Right? The Left? The Middle? The Green? The Neo-Right?

More facts —

I am informed, or rather, I strive to be & make a point to be informed. Not only by American mainstream media… but also by not-so-mainstream media, & international media.

I love country music. Especially the kind that talks about supporting our troops & loving our country. I love my country. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement, & I don’t mind when people talk about those issues. I do mind when people disparage our nation in ways that are inaccurate & portray isolated incidents to be the norm. I believe if you really hate it here that much… then LEAVE. I doubt it’ll be much of a loss for us.

I support our troops. I believe in a strong military. I believe that we should speak softly & carry a big stick. (I like big sticks.) I value our veterans, our POW’s, the men & women that are willing to risk their lives for our freedom very, very highly.

Being raised in South Florida, I adore Latino-Miami-culture. And hate it all at the same time. I believe in strong family ties, but I don’t agree with living with your parents until you’re 30. I believe in maintaining culture through generations, but I don’t agree with not learning English for 30 years… or ever.

I am agnostic… leaning heavily on atheist. Religion, religious institutions, & faith in the unfounded & illogical, are all against my religion, so to speak.

I believe that taxes are a necessary evil. Though they’re not really evil at all. (I don’t believe in “evil”, remember?) They’re just plain necessary. I believe that more people to need to understand & deal with this on a more realistic level. I don’t believe that the rich should be disproportionately taxed higher. The operative adverb in that sentence is disproportionately. I don’t believe in welfare. I believe in working for my money & not letting anyone else work for it. I believe everyone (that can) should do the same. I agree with carefully scrutinized & fair disability programs.

I am a strong advocate of a woman’s right to choose, under every & all circumstances. Period.

I think that the 2nd Amendment is essential to a people’s freedom in any nation & I will forever fight to maintain this right in our nation.

I believe that our nation was founded on immigrants, & that if we choose close our borders now, we are closing ourselves off to the diversity on which we, as Americans, thrive.

I believe in stem-cell research & that those who would deny science these possible breakthroughs are living in a backwards, delusional, & dangerous world. The same world where people preach abstinence to teens as opposed to sex education, including options of birth control & STD prevention.

I believe in doing everything possible to save this earth from our destruction. This includes, for example, me purchasing an electric or hybrid vehicle & building a home with solar panels. So should you. I want the people who make decisions about our nation to believe that this world’s air, water, fossil fuels, temperature, etc. need to be livable, sustainable by those who will succeed us by more than just a couple generations.

I despise Fidel Castro. I despise Kim Jung Il. I despise Victor Chavez. I despise any leader who dares to take away the freedom of his/her people. I do not believe that it is the U.S.’s obligation to remove these dictators from power. I don’t believe we signed up to be the police of the world & should not be forced into taking on that job, along with the battles that go with that title. By the same token, fighting for the rights/freedoms/etc of a people should never be an excuse used to cover up a deeper, more selfish, political agenda. I despise Osama bin Laden & all terrorists. I believe that an attack on domestic soil is a declaration of war. Thus, I don’t believe that we belong in Iraq. I do believe we have work to finish in Afghanistan.

I believe in secret agencies. I believe that “we the people” cannot know everything that our government knows or else our enemies will also know these things. I also believe in privacy & the right to information. This is a quandary that, I admit I cannot always solve, even within my own mind.

I love Ayn Rand. I believe in survival of the fittest & let the chips fall where they may. I am self-sufficient & loving it. “I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

I love Adam Smith. I am a capitalist, at heart. I believe in small government. I believe in the power of the “invisible hand” of competition. “The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.” I also am aware, & I recognize the, sometimes difficult & sometimes wonderful, cycles that ensue from a free market.

…

I know that who I am & what I believe is necessary, unnecessary, right, wrong, etc… Is specific & unique to me. But maybe you can find some pattern in the above. Maybe you can find some political box that I fit into. One that maybe you fit into as well. Soft-republican? Independent? Green party? Idealistic liberal? I don’t even know where I belong. My beliefs cross over a million party-line boundaries & million times over.

What I do know is this: I believe that Barack Obama coincides ENOUGH with my belief system that he is my choice for President. With my myriad of seemingly contradicting stances, somehow, he manages to appease me. He is the ONLY candidate for president that has ever given me reason to believe that government will give the people what they really need. I also believe that even where I disagree with him, his views do not override mine so much as to take away the rights that I believe in most. I believe he is a man of sound judgment, excellent foresight, calm, collected, & a fantastic example of common sense working at its highest level in combination with a razor-sharp, educated mind. I believe he knows what the majority of the nation wants & needs for our future, myself included.

And that’s why I’m (early) voting for Barack Obama later on today, October 29th, 2008.