I'm glad to be American, even if I understand that more now.

I need to amend my last post.  I was, in fact, in error about Amendment 1 in Arkansas.  It was an amendment to ban the foster parentage of unwed couples, and, in its passing it continued to restrict would-be couples from such.  I realized this to be the case soon after posting to the contrary, but I did want to clear that up, especially since everyone reading isn't exactly abreast of Arkansan political happenings.  I suppose this means that my voting was not in opposition to everyone on everything!  Hooray!  (Is that an appropriate response at all?)

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One of my friends is in law school in Seattle, and lately she has written a bit about being a center-right voter in an area that pushes the boundaries of leftism.  I'm not sure exactly why her experience resonates with me, a center-righter in the midst of the conservative swirl that tends to be Arkansas, but it does.  Perhaps the internal debates and determinations that faced me in this, my first ballot cast, have reinforced my understanding of the blessing that it is to be able to vote radically against your peers.  (sidebar: I strategically voted Green party in this election, and that's a whole other ball of wax.)  

Having lived in a country that holds "elections" in the most figurative sense, I see now how utterly free the American system is.  In China everyone knows who will be the next president far before the election is held.  It isn't just the conjecture of CNN and FOX.  It's years of preparation and being brought up under the wings of Party leaders.  I know that to a degree this happens in America-- both nominees this go-round were US Senators-- but Sarah Palin got incredibly close to the VP chair, and she is far less of a traditional career politician than anyone I've ever seen get the nod.

I remember being in elementary GT during the Clinton/Dole election cycle and saying that I might one day want to run for president.  I'm thankful that I really don't want to be Commander in Chief anymore.  I'd much rather work for an NGO or document the plight of Vietnamese Christians on the border of Cambodia (and the UN's absolute and complete impotence in such egregious human rights violations) with film.  The fact that politics will follow us wherever we go is not frightening when it is taken into consideration that politics is really just juggling people while doing what needs to be done.  Fortunately I don't need to get the national budget balanced or determine an educational system for millions of students.  I just need airfare, batteries, and per diem.  

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Today I was able to spend time with Rob, who was down in Arkansas for Jill's funeral and decided to stay in the area during the BMAA Arkansas State Associational Meeting.  Nothing, I'm sure, could be more thrilling.  As an employee of the BMAA, though, I'm sure it was a good thing for him to be there.  Anyway, it provided me with an opportunity to talk to him for a while.  We noticed the corporate sponsorship of CBC's new bell tower (Regions Bank, Conway Development Corp., etc.) and then struck out for the Starbucks on 65.  That's the one I seem to find myself in a time or two a week.  The weather outside was gorgeous today with nice sun and a level 68 degree late afternoon after a humid and rainy morning.  We sat outside and discussed Romans 5 and other problems of the wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am approach to relationship with Christ and its interplay with grace and sin-nature.  

My conversations with Rob are never less than intriguing.  That's all I want to say so as not to preclude either of us having any associations with the BMAA ever again.  I'm kind of joking.  Perhaps I will flesh this out elsewhere, but the public eye and my interpretation of the writings of Paul might not be the best of bedfellows right now.

T