I am young and have only lived thru 6 Presidential elections and the only one that really had any significant impact on me was the 2004 Election (Bush/Kerry). I remember being so excited to vote for the first time and then being confused when the democratic party had lawyers ready and waiting to defend the voting public from becoming voiceless.

I didn't understand. I thought: "Well this is a strange occurance, why would they need lawyers, doesn't our votes count?" I couldn't understand why they were threatning countless recounts and promising over and over again that every vote would be counted. That was my first election and the second one is just as strange.

As a democrat and bi-racial with a black mother and a white father you would think that I would be ecstatic about Barack Obama, but this is not the case. I feel as if his policies are a bit too idealistic to say the least. In what world do you expect there to be no weapons of mass destruction or where diplomacy is the golden ticket to world peace?

Don't get me wrong I like Barack Obama and I think that his acheivements are comendable in every sense of the word, but the America that exists today and the world that exists today, I am just not sure he is ready to face the harsh realities of islamic extremists. there is not a day that goes by that I don't worry about the atrocities that can potentially affect the lives of my two young children.

My husband and I contemplate and discuss the safest places for our children to attend college, those places that are least likely to be targeted as terrorist playgrounds or nuclear attack. It is a sad reality and I need to know that the people who are going to run this country are going to have the right kind of plan to protect America and the future of America, which are our children.

However Terrorism is not the only issue that affects my children. We have the issue of oil dependence, the economy, education and the environment to just name a few. I do not want my children to inherit the problems plaguing this nation that have the potential to manifest into something much worse when it is their turn.

I am taking off my democratic hat and replacing it with that of an American and a mother and if I have to cross party lines in order to insure that the next administration has my children's interest at heart, then so be it. So for now I will continue to educate myself on the candidates and their policies and listen to every argument, conversation and debate unil I have come to a decision. I hope that in these hard times we can all unite and think of our future generations and what is best for them.