For your listening pleasure while you read:
Today I am thankful for, as I’m sure many people are, the right to vote. I’m glad I live in a country where we get to elect the people who are in charge. Everyone’s opinion counts, even if half of you vote wrong. ;)
Last night I watched Jimmy Kimmel. He made a good point about voting. He said one of the excuses people use for not voting is that they don’t think their vote matters, to which he replied people do a lot of things that don’t matter. It was funny, but he was right.
I will admit that I don’t vote in every election, and I don’t always fill out the ballot completely. I have, however, voted in every presidential election since I’ve been of age and one non-presidential election that I can remember. I was eighteen. I went with my mom to the little church by our house where the polling place was. It was scary and exciting and I felt like such an adult.
When I was in elementary school, they taught us about voting and politics and women’s voting rights and all that other crap I don’t remember. The one thing that did stick with me was voter privacy. This is something I take very seriously. I never disclose whom I vote for. I’m not even sure if I’ve ever discussed it with my husband. Here’s my reasoning:
Politics can be very personal. People are passionate about it. Just look at your Facebook and Twitter feeds. I don’t want to cause a rift between those close to me simply because of my political opinion. Sure we may agree now, but if I talk to you about it, and four years from now I’m suddenly silent, you’re going to get suspicious. I’d rather keep my choices private.
With that being said, I did vote for Jesse Ventura in the above mentioned non presidential election. I’m pretty sure I voted for Ross Perot in my elementary school poll. (He won, for those interested.) Also, today I voted NO to limit the right to marry. Honestly, if you don’t agree with gay marriage, you don’t have to participate in it. I have a pamphlet of 77 non-religious reasons why marriage should be between one man and one woman that I picked up at a church. I find approximately 100% of the reasons either religious, completely irrelevant, or downright ridiculous. I was going to blog about it, but it made me too ragey to form coherent thoughts.
This is the fourth presidential election I’ve voted in. I think it’s the most “lesser of two evils” I’ve ever experienced. Without disclosing whose circle I completely filled in with a solid dark mark, my prediction is that Obama will be spending another 4 years in office.
A list of those participating 30 Days of Thanks bloggers can be viewed below. Want in? Leave a comment and I’ll link you.
I’ve voted in 3 presidential elections and countless local ones. I, too, take my right to vote very seriously. Women fought hard for me, for us, for people they would never meet, and I’m not going to waste that. It makes me happy when people just get out there to vote.