I'm a Voter...Are You?

I was not raised to be the least bit interested in politics. 

It wasn't a gender thing; I have no memory of my parents ever voting in any election, and there were never any heated arguments over the trials and tribulations of government.  To my eyes, my parents were into other things.  It may be that my dad's military career was predicated on his silence when it came to his political views; one unedited comment in front of a higher-ranking officer would have been ill-advised.  One bus ride home from school in the 70s, a relatively benign shouting match between those who were for Carter and those who were for Ford briefly ignited my interest in political campaigns, but it subsided soon after the election. 

Until I hit the age of 18, and went off to college. 

College is all about broadening your horizons, at least intellectually.  My friend Cathy was appalled at the idea that I might not vote in the upcoming election.  Her family was extremely political.  Intelligent people exercised their government mandated right to express their opinions by choosing suitable candidates, and that was that.  Bowing to her relentless disapproval on the topic, I registered to vote, and we went together to make our selections. I've been a registered voter ever since.

My husband is  a Legacy Democrat--his daddy was a Democrat, his daddy's daddy was a Democrat, and so on, back before electricity.  His voting is very simple, and takes about five minutes, at least when the state of Texas is not trying to keep him from voting by "mysteriously" forgetting his address(it's happened more than once).  But I am not affiliated with any particular party. I am very much an independent.  I reserve the right to make a decision based on merit, not on whether you're a party member.   With me, not so much. I know that there are idiots on both sides of the fence.  And contrary to what others may thing, my husband does not make my political decisions for me.  I read up, and I understand the issues, and I make up my own mind.  And I vote.

Right now there are a lot of shenanigans going on in politics; particularly in Texas. This isn't really a new thing; ever since we've been a country, there's been election shenanigans.   People are getting elected who aren't willing to work with others, for example.  Or people getting elected based on lies told by political action committees rather than what the candidate actually stands for, like those Swift Boat idiots.  Dark money, or money with no accountability attached to it, is being thrown at candidates from businesses like Cash America or individuals such as the Koch brothers.  It is important to note that these businesses only care about what they want--they aren't interested in the big picture, but in their goal.  If you read carefully, for instance, all these arguments for smaller government are very business friendly--if you want to avoid having your business regulated, you elect people who will help you make that happen.  It's also a sad fact that these political groups count on the general ignorance or apathy of the populace to sway votes their way.   It's disheartening, but the shenanigans keep happening because they work. So I vote, and do my part to make sure that candidates who live in the pockets of these shady, corrupt organizations do not win elections.

I understand the use of propaganda, and it sickens me that such tripe is even allowed.  However, I'm also realistic and cynical enough to understand that extremists are getting into office through the use of these tactics. That concerns me.  Extremists aren't interested in cooperation in order to form a more efficient government.  They are only interested in their one issue--abortion, lower taxes, etc.--and they could care less about anything else.  It's dangerous to allow these sorts of individuals to hold office. So I vote, and do my part to make sure these extremists do not win elections. 

Tomorrow is an election day and I'd like to announce this, in case anyone doesn't know:  I am a woman. I actually vote.   I know it's not much--what can my little self do to reverse the overwhelming tide of idiocy that has become the political process?  I vote anyway.  Because in the United States, everyone's voice counts. 

So It's Tuesday...

Yes, it is Tuesday.  It's the day to VOTE.  I was able to go and vote last Thursday, which was a huge relief. I prefer not to leave such an important civic duty until the last possible minute.  I would rather not be forced to stand in an impossibly long, long, long line.  Those sorts of lines are only for Peter Jackson films, tickets to a concert, the largest roller coaster in the world, etc.  I hate waiting that much.  My husband was able to vote this time around, without any of the usual grief, thank goodness! 

I was on Facebook yesterday, and happened to look at the ads.  There was a "Lose Your Belly Fat With This One Weird Trick" ad...followed by an ad for Werther's candy.  Do you want me to lose weight, Facebook?  Then stop giving me mixed messages! 

After today, when the polls close, we can kiss all those horrible political ads goodbye. Hooray!  At least, someone can kiss them goodbye.  I'm not kissing any, because I don't know where those ads have been. There's been some pretty scary people buying ad time.  If you told me that the Mafia had a Super-PAC, I wouldn't even blink. I think that we should ban all political ads from the media, and the politicians should do like they used to do, which is get out and actually talk to people.  It worked for Abraham Lincoln, it should work for everyone else.  It's easier to take the measure of a candidate when they are ten feet away as opposed to in a little box in your entertainment center.

My fear of commitment has been on overdrive; as soon as I decided that I would sign up for NaNoWriMo, my brain came up with a kajillion reasons that I should not.  You don't have time, my brain said. You'll never make 50,000 words, it said. You'll put your eye out! it said.  I signed up anyway.  I'm going to at least attempt to do this, give it a good faith effort.  If I succeed, then yay me.  If I don't, then yay me.

Okay, if my church sent out a poster with this guy on it, I don't think I'd be lining up.  He looks rather scary, doesn't he?  I would hold my purse more closely if he showed up, I'm sad to say.  He's probably a very nice man, and he's obviously a church goer.  But his face does not increase my desire to attend this particular church.  I didn't really ever like Korn that much anyway, because my brain kept taking them to task for the glaring spelling error. Now, if Eric Clapton was touring churches, I'd be there, along with half the continent. But,hey, it's Clapton. 

I am visiting Stacy over at Stacy Uncorked today.  I hope that she has recovered sufficiently from the evil Hurricane Sandy.  Check her out!

The Competition Has Left Me Behind

I don't think of myself as competitive. Most because I can't really work up enough energy to get worked up about being competitive. Even if there is something that I am good at, I'm just sort of 'meh' about competing against other people.

I know that there are people out there who are major competitors. If you've done something, they have to do it better, faster, and prettier than you. I've started walking? They are jogging. I am jogging? They're running marathons, so neener-neener-neener. Bastards.

My general dislike of competition began in the sixth grade. There was a competition to see who could read the most books in a grading period. There was this girl, Lynnette, who made it her personal mission to read the most books, and the teacher wouldn't count ANY of the hundreds of comic books I had read for the contest. Not even The Cross and the Switchblade, which was about Tom Landry and God or something! However, that same teacher counted The Hobbit as TWO for Lynnette, which won her the stupid contest. I am pretty sure that if I ran into Lynnette today, I'd punch right in the face. But I'm not bitter.

After that, I lost the will to live. Just kidding. I did lose the will to compete. Even when I won the school spelling bee at the end of that year, I had no interest in competing, and was as surprised as anyone that I won. Every contest that I have won has left me questioning the wisdom of the judges.

So when I started blogging, I decided to try this just for fun:



People who visit your blog click on the button, and your popularity is judged worthy based on the number of people who vote for you. I was hoping to hit the top 100. I think that I'm number 4,000,042. That is downright depressing! I've decided that this is too much like high school, where I have to be nice to all the right people so they will let me sit near them. What do all of you think? Do you care about these 'vote for me!' events? What brings you back to a blog, or gets your attention?

Vote Early, Vote Often!

My husband and I voted this afternoon. We went to a place in Universal City and stood in a short line with a bunch of older people. All of the volunteers were senior citizens too. This made me a little sad at first--it would have been nice to see some younger people particiaping in the election process. Then I realized that most of the younger generation, including myself, have jobs, and therefore are unavailable to spend all day sitting around waiting for people like me to come and vote. Der.

As I was growing up, I never saw my parents vote. When I finally asked about it, my dad said that it didn't really matter to them who was in office, so why bother? My mom never said a word about it, but my mom doesn't talk much unless my dad is being a doofus. But when I started college, my BFF Cathy dragged me to register, then dragged me to vote. Her parents were very interested in politics and discussed the issues and candidates. So I sort of picked up the habit of paying attention to politics. And I vote, because I feel this gives me permission to gripe about whoever is in office that I didn't vote for. Griping is, for me, an Olympic sport.