If you don't exercise your right to vote tomorrow then you have lost some of my respect. People have fought and died both to get that right and then to protect it! Yes, I've heard all the arguments about how it doesn't mean anything and one candidate is the same as the other. I think any informed voter knows that isn't true.
I'm voting for Barack Obama. I've been unhappy with a number of his choices and decisions and frustrated that change hasn't come overnight. But I've also watched as the Republicans have publicly crowed about blocking all of the President's attempts at real change.
If you've paid attention and kept informed as to what's been going on in this country and the world, to me the choice is obvious.
BUT...if you've paid attention and reached a different decision than mine, I respect that! VOTE! If you genuinely feel that Mitt Romney would make the better President and create the real change we need, and aren't just saying that because FOX NEWS or Talk Radio told you to, I can respect that even though I disagree 100%.
But VOTE, dammit! Not voting helps no one. It doesn't send a message. It simply shows apathy. If you vote Democrat or Republican, I will respect you.
But seriously, look on the Internet. Look at the candidates' positions and statements and accomplishments and think for yourself.
And while you're at it, there are a lot of non-Presidential issues on various ballots that are pretty important, also. You shouldn't be blind-sided when you see them on your ballot tomorrow. Read up on them, too.
And then VOTE!
I know it's a right, but I still consider it a privilege to vote. To have even that small bit of say about how you are governed is a treasure most of mankind has not enjoyed, and it's a gift we need to value much more than we do.
ReplyDeleteThe steps taken in the past year to restrict voting is abominable on many levels. The canard about voter fraud is laughable, yet I hear people who claim to value reason above all else espouse it as an excuse to support such transparent efforts to restrict the franchise for those they disagree with.
A friend of mine, sadly a devotee of "Right" in many respects, even trotted out the old-fashioned notion that one might perhaps need to own property to be allowed to vote. I was gobsmacked. This "skin-in-the-game" argument though can only end there if followed through to its unpleasant conclusion.
Citizens control their lives in this country as much as possible, and it strikes me as strange that Conservatives who bristle at the mere mention of Government oversight are more than happy to sign away rights into the hands of the rising plutocracy.
We are in for some rough times ahead mi amigos.
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