What happens here stays here?? Reponse to Rambling Mom

I promised Rambling Mom a response to her post from this weekend on our willingness to talk politics publicly. Now, obviously in HERE I am quite vocal 🙂 But that has evolved on recently. The first year or so of blogging I was still pretty nervous about it. A lot of that nervousness has to do with how Democrats were treated early on in the current administration. Especially in areas like mine which are predominantly GOP. We were quite vilified and accused of being un-patriotic and all sorts of other nonsense just because we had the audacity to question the decisions of the sitting president. Worse though, was how *all* of us were somehow lumped in the few fanatics. Hello? Was it my responsibility if some far left wing nutjob in Idaho said something ludicrous? According to some, yes. Passions were high and it was best for me to keep my political views close to the vest. But oh, how that fueled my own passions ever deeper! Which led me to seek out friendly places on the internet, which led me to DailyKos where I found a safe place to vent. Consequently my nervousness became less and less and I realized that I needed to be proud of my stance in the face of anything. So I gradually became bolder about speaking out on my views. In 2004, I didn’t have any yard signs, but I did have a big John Kerry sign in the back window of my car. For awhile there I was driving a car that I did not want to mark up with bumper stickers. But then last year when I downgraded to my cute little station wagon which feels more “mine” than any car I’ve had for awhile, I decided it was sticker-worthy. Besides, stickers have become much easier to remove as needed 🙂 So when I found this sticker which is also my user name on all the blogs, it was the perfect way to begin outing myself:

Now, as far as this year’s election goes, I am not displaying anything – yet. I’m not sure why other than I am afraid to display the sign or sticker of my candidate only to have him not get the nomination, then have to switch it out for the general election. But I really do love the Obama logo and really hope to have a sign on my lawn and sticker on my car very soon:

So far my area is clear of any yard signs other than a smattering of Ron Paul stuff. Oh, and the majority of candidate specific bumper stickers that I saw driving around the last two weeks were for Mitt Romney. See? Those people already have to peel those things off! Anyway, thanks to the enthusiasm shown for this election cycle in general, I am sure that signs will start sprouting up all around me. And that will be cool. Though not quite as cool as this:

Thank you to Common Sense Mainer for sharing that photo with me from yesterday’s Maine caucus in the town (sorry Squib!) city of Portland.

So yeah, if asked, I will tell how I voted. I don’t *look* for a debate, but I don’t shy from it either. However, I completely understand those who keep it in the voting booth! I am just happy as long as you VOTE!