Vote or shut up. That's what we keep hearing around election day. IF you can't get off your lazy American butt to fill out some forms and turn them in, then when things go wrong for you in politics, you have no right to fuss or complain. Yes, we must read through the pros and cons and YES, it's a pain to do, and Y E S, sometimes is makes no sense at all, but we do our best.
YES, I understand that the primaries are not major voting days and YES, I understand that the lobbyists and the big fat cats are pushing things for us to vote or not vote for, but it's our duty anyways.
Shut up and vote already.
I like to do the absentee ballots - that way I can take my sweet old time going over things and fill stuff out. I don't send it in. In fact, I like to hand deliver to the polls down the street with my son. He sees how it goes, gets a sticker and asks questions. He loves putting the ballot in the box too. I used to like to go to the polls with my mother who had to bring us due to having 5 kids, but there was something cool about it - and there were no stickers for the kids.
We just understood that this was a pretty important event that effected everyone, even us as kids. My parents were not overly political, so I didn't grow up with some political slant in my brain. I ended up being very conservative in my early voting years, but found out that I'm actually a pretty liberal Democrat. Who knew? Thank God for facebook tests that tell you who you 'really are.' LOL!
This morning on the way to work the SF station 'Alice' had Mayor Gavin Newsom on. He's not my mayor, I'm in Santa Rosa, but I do like him. He's out there, doing his mayor thing, knows when he's being stupid and knows that he's flawed. He's also optimistic and an idealist. I like that. Yes, he's a politician, but he's a good one I think. He's also brave. Brave enough to come out and say that he's for marriage between two PEOPLE who love each other. He took a beating for it early on, but he's weathered the storm pretty well and held on to what he believes in.
I respect that in a person.
Anyways, he was on air this morning just encouraging everyone - on his political side of the fence or not, to just get out there and V O T E! He says that these elections are historically not popular and the turnout is very low - especially with Democrats. So, the presidential vote isn't on here this time. So what? There's a lot of other things on here that MAY pertain to you.
Get out there and vote! Show your kids how it goes. Not registered? Make TODAY your day to register. It's not hard and I hear you can do it on line too.
You may be like me and not very political, but you know when you read something if it's for you or not. Voting is not rocket science. It's easy. Even if you don't read the New York Times or the SF Chron each day and have no idea what's been going on in the world or your own backyard, there's something you want to have a say in each election.
It's difficult to find good candidates or sometimes any candidate that you like for a certain seat, but TRY. Go to their website and read for a little while. Is it a good fit for you and your values? Do you not like something? Why? Take your lunch break or dinner hour and figure it out.
The polls close at 8pm, so you have a lot of time to do this. Cram a bit today and find out how little it takes to vote and make a difference. For all the freedoms we enjoy, it's a tiny bit of homework for us - and it might show up in your daily life sooner than later.
Do it. Vote...it's your job.
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