Take the time to vote

After Tuesday, we won’t have to listen to political ads for awhile. I can’t say I will miss all the misinformation and attacks on character by both sides. I won’t miss the campaign ads that materialize in my mailbox and go straight into the recycling bin once they make it inside the house.
Yet, I view all the political nonsense as part of what makes this country what it is, even though it does get tiresome.
I hope you take the time to vote for the candidate of your choice. I might cancel your vote with one of my own. That’s part of the beauty of the process. Each vote counts just as much as another one. My vote is as equally important as the president’s vote. So is yours.
Some people vote for candidates based on their race, sex, religion or just because they like the name. Some people choose who to vote for after studying the candidate’s position on a myriad of issues they consider important. Some vote for the lesser of two evils. All votes carry the same weight at the ballot box.
In local races we are often voting for our friends and neighbors. We know these people. We know their histories. We know their past performances.
We trust or not trust them, not based on their advertising, but based on who they are and how they treat people. We know if they do their homework and if they tend to have informed opinions. We know if they will follow through on their promises. Or not.
In national elections we vote for the president, congressmen and senators. While I firmly believe my choice is the best one for our country, I am also very thankful for bureaucracy. Thanks to bureaucracy and red tape, no one person can totally destroy this great land of ours. Their more radical agendas will no doubt be thwarted by more reasonable members of the government. If we choose someone who turns out to be a rotten government official, we have the option to toss them out of office in due time.
Then we can elect someone we think will do a better job.
On election day we all matter. Those who choose not to vote, in effect, are saying that whoever other people choose is acceptable. Those of us who do vote have a responsibility to choose the person we think will do the best job for all of us.
Voting is a privilege and in many areas of the world people don’t have the privileges we have. We are so used to privilege in this country that we take it for granted. Don’t have time to vote today? Don’t feel like going out into the cold? Worried that the voting procedure is too hard? There’s always next year. Everybody else will pick up the slack.
If nothing else, you should go out and vote in celebration of the end of the campaign mudslinging.
Once we have elected our next batch of leaders we can get on with more important things, such as preparing for Thanksgiving and trying not to finish all the leftover Halloween candy in one sitting.[[In-content Ad]]