Kevin Boos

Courthouse and Jail Rocks in western Nebraska were a landmark along the Oregon Trail. Click on the photograph to go on a photographic tour of the trail. There are about 100 photographs of the trail from Missouri to Oregon.

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Here are a few of my thoughts about the state of politics in America today.

Politicians make it difficult for me to vote my conscience. I believe our lives and the world are gifts from God, and as such, we have a responsibility to care for them.

So often Churches seems to side with conservatives/Republicans. Yes, many of them are against abortion. The argument is that the unborn are the most vulnerable and need protection. I agree with that. The liberals/Democrats say that whether or not to have an abortion is a decision between a woman and her doctor. They believe that the government should have no say in that. That argument makes sense, except that an abortion is taking a human life. Only God should decide who is to live and who is to die.

When I vote my conscience I cannot support abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, or war in any circumstance except as a last resort.

I started thinking about the next issue when I was in college in 1975 at Idaho State University. My biology professor told the class about something he found very troubling. He called it the greenhouse effect. He explained that burning fossil fuels was causing the earth to heat by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. That carbon dioxide was absorbing some of the sun's heat that was going back into space and re-radiating it in all directions; some went back to the earth. He explained it is somewhat similar to the way glass in a greenhouse allows radiant energy in and doesn't allow all of the heat to escape. He told us scientists thought that could make the world hotter and melt the polar ice caps. Another possibility he mentioned was the warmer temperature could cause more evaporation of water, thereby increasing precipitation. That in turn could cause more snow, resulting in heat energy being reflected off the increased snow cover. Another ice age was considered a possibility. Although it was not a new topic at that time, they obviously didn't have all the answers.

Now, almost forty years later, we still don't have all the answers, but the earth's temperature is rising, the ice caps are melting, and weather is getting more severe. Going back to politicians, why are those who are concerned about the unborn willing to sacrifice the unborn babies' future by ignoring global warming? From my understanding, concern for the environment should not be a liberal or conservative thing, or a Democrat or Republican issue. The environment is a gift from God and as such, all should care for it. Even if you don't believe in God, can anyone find logic in destroying the systems that support life on the earth? If by chance you find destroying those systems logical, how can a moral person justify using resources at a rate that keeps the unborn from sharing in them?

I wrote this a month after the shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. That tragedy shows yet another area where Americans hide behind someone else's propaganda instead of thinking for themselves. Politicians have no backbone when it comes to the Second Amendment.  We have the right to bear arms.  We also have the right to speak our minds, the freedom of religion and from religion, and other guarantees found in the Bill of Rights.

That document was written over 200 years ago and is still relevant today. Politicians who want to take away our right to protect ourselves, hunt, or collect guns are breaking the Second Amendment. Can we protect that right and at the same time protect our people from mass murders like those that take place all too frequently in our country? I don't think assault-type weapons that can shoot 100 armor-piercing rounds without reloading can be justified for protecting ourselves, hunting, or collecting, especially when those weapons can do so much damage.

There are types of weapons that are used by the military to protect us. Reasonable people don't have problems reserving hand grenades, fighter jets, tanks, and other weapons of that type for the military. I believe that assault rifles fit into that category.

Going back to voting my conscience, I cannot vote for a person who is not willing to protect vulnerable lives from assault weapons, even if he or she claims to be pro-life.

I ignore labels such as conservative, liberal, Republican, or Democrat. I vote my conscience. I decide if a woman's right to choose is more important than the the life of an unborn baby. I weigh the need of assault weapons to protect myself and my family with our ability to protect others from misuse of those weapons. I consider natural and man-made causes for global warming and try to understand the results of inaction to determine what I think should be done. I know these are just a few of the issues that face us today, but I am not willing to be dictated to on any of them because I am too lazy to think for myself.

If I will not vote my conscience, but instead am a puppet of the right or the left, of Rush Limbaugh or the liberal media, of the NRA or other special interest groups, I do not deserve to vote.

If politicians have no backbone, they do not deserve to represent me. In that case, I ask them to do the country a favor and get a job where they can use the abilities they do have. By doing this, they will be productive and open positions in government for others who will represent us and not the powerful interest groups that control much of our government today. In the process, they will give me a chance to vote my conscience.