TEAM SHEHEEN

There are times when I am just so amazingly proud of being from Camden that I can barely contain myself. These same instances I also find myself being insanely protective over the reasons that I'm proud of being from here. In the past these sorts of things have been high school sports events. These events range anywhere from 2001 when we won the state championship to my Senior year of high school when my soccer team beat Lugoff every single time we played them. I can't explain how great that felt and also how ready I was to whip anyone's tail who made some jealous slanderous comment about it.

More recently I've found myself being so freaking proud of Camden because of Vincent Sheheen. I also found myself being extremely protective over his campaign and the things people might say about it. Tonight for example, as I was purusing Facebook I stumbled across a series of statuses hinting that I was stupid for voting for Vincent and my favorite:

JOHN DOE is proud that she stayed true to her values and didn't jump on the bandwagon to vote for a democrat from her home town for governor. Vote for REPUBLICAN Nikki Haley in the run-offs!

There are a few things I found wrong about this quoted status. The first being this person is from Lugoff, South Carolina. Vincent is from CAMDEN, South Carolina. Therefore, you ma'am would not be voting for someone from your home town because you are not from Camden. Secondly, staying true to your values by voting for Nikki Haley? Are we thinking of the same Nikki Haley? If we are, then you my friend are saying that your values include supporting someone who is endorsing adultery. While these accusations of Nikki Haley could very well be false, the problem with your status is you are putting down all of those who expressed their freedom of vote because they didn't vote for the same person you did. The glaring problem with this status is simply using the word "republican" in all caps. Obviously, this is admittance that you chose to vote for her mainly because she is a REPUBLICAN first and foremost. Not because you held the same views or supported her platform, but because she is a republican.

Sidenote: I really should be an investigator of some sort because I'd say I'm pretty decent at detecting clues about people based on their writing.

Though you are exercising your freedom of speech you should not be putting others down for expressing theirs. I don't appreciate reading people's statuses and have them refer to me as being of a lower status just because I support someone else. I'm sure if I put my status as "Fraser Speaks is soooooooo freaking happy she chose to vote for someone who wasn't accused of adultery from someone in the same political party!! bAcKsTaBbErZ!! hehe"

Seriously, COME ON.

I voted for Vincent for a few reasons and none of them include because he and I share the same hometown. The reasons I cast my vote the way I did include (but aren't limited to):

1) His education plan. All three of his children are enrolled in public education. Being a product of the public education system and planning on teaching in it one day means that public education is pretty damn high on my priority list. He understands how desperately public schools need funding and that those enrolled in public education are those who need help the most. He also stands for "let teachers teach." Public educators have recently been forced to stick to standards. This is no way to actually educate. Frankly, it's boring and gets South Carolina no where in rank on the intelligence scale.

2) Vincent stands for not only helping South Carolina's jobs and economy but also doing so in a way that will help the environment.

3) Not once has Sheheen tried to mudsling or put another candidate down in either party as was seen in the Haley/Bauer fiasco. I don't know about you, but to me that says a whole lot. Someone who isn't trying to be involved in any sort of drama is someone that South Carolina needs. I'm sick of being spotlighted on CNN for pretty much being a skanky and stupid state. It's just getting embarassing. We couldn't even make it through the primaries without showing up on FOX National News because someone in the running was accused of cheating on her husband by someone in the SAME political party. That's just screaming bad news from the beginning.

Okay, those are just a few of the reasons. There are plenty more that I'm not going to post because I'm nearly positive you don't actually care.

Basically, the moral of this story is: it's okay to support your candidate via Facebook but don't put others down for who they support. It shouldn't be about parties, it should be about platforms.

I'd also like to apologize for this being a political post.