Tuesday, November 04, 2008

I Voted.


And no, I am not going to tell you who I voted for. As my grandfather always said, "That's between you and God", and I agree with him. What I will say is this: I am glad and proud today to be an American, to be able to get in my little orange car and zip down to the town hall in my tiny town in Western Massachusetts and cast a vote for the person/s I think most able to govern our nation and protect the freedoms I have (like voting, for example). As I stood in line this morning there was no political discussion or dissent. No placards on the sidewalk, no angry people telling me why I should vote for this or that candidate. It was just a fairly large group of townsfolk exercising their right to vote.

This freedom is, sadly, the one we most take for granted, I think. If the projections are right, only 54% of citizens will vote in this election. Fifty-four percent. What does that say about who we are as a people, as a nation? Would only 54% of us claim our tax refunds? I know many are disillusioned in the process. We do not trust the candidates, and they've never really given us good reason to trust them. We think "What difference does it make?" But what we fail to remember in disillusionment and dismay is that we have in us the power to change that. What if 100% of adults in America voted? What if 100% of Americans understood, deep in their hearts as I do, that this "right" we so take for granted wasn't always ours? It hasn't been for that long, you know. In 1870 the right to vote was granted to former slaves and non-whites. 1870. In 1920, women gained the right to vote. That's not even 100 years. Tax evaders gained the right to vote in 1964, and the age of 18 was declared as the official voting age in 1971. What if 100% of Americans went to Project Vote Smart, did their research, and cast a vote for the candidate who's record most closely matched their own political values? What if 100% of Americans put their feet down and said "enough is enough" and demanded true, real, deep, honest change in our current political system? What if?

We, the People. People died to give us the right to say that, and mean it. We, the People. We should all remember, respect, and honor the sacrifice of others by making the choice to vote.

OK, now for some less serious stuff:
Dazee Goes Visiting on HalloweenLove Never EndsDazee guards the slider to the deck, where the birds have been committing hara-kiri all week. If someone knows of a way to deter them from flying into my windows, I would love to know it.Free Birds.Hydrangea. Love these things. They should be brought in and arranged.Hysterical. Love. It Itches. Franklin Habit Rocks.Kumquats. There's now about 16 flowers open on the tree, and it smells like an orange grove in full bloom in here. it makes me very happy.Someone is moving in for winter, I hope. It would be fun to take pictures of him all winter long.Someone else is getting ready for winter, trying to clean up the disaster left by 5 or 6 felled trees. He needs an assistant. I am so busy swatching and knitting and writing. I feel bad. Of course he gets to play with his chainsaw. I think that helps!

I am going to go swatch, and then cast on a moebius.

5 comments:

Yarnhog said...

Are those American flag SOCKS? Too funny! (I'm sure some people would be offended, but not knitters, right?)

It's 8:01. I'm going to collect my husband and vote.

ccr in MA said...

At my last job, we had a similar problem with birds flying into the windows. We got some decals that are translucent and supposed to be more visible to the birds than regular stickers (you put them on the outside of the windows). It really cut down on the problem; after that, I think there was only one incident in over a year.

We got ours from windowalert.com but there are others out there that are probably just as good. My two cents.

Tracitalynne said...

Oh, cute socks!!!

David Sedaris has a hilarious essay about birds flying into his windows. He eventually puts record album covers in the windows, the ones with people's faces on them, and the birds go away. Really funny, esp. as he ends up with Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan peering out all of his windows.

Worth a shot!

I voted, then went to Bread Euphoria and got my free Vote cookie! Woo!

smbelcas said...

Where are you getting a projection of 54% voting?

The other day, I had been curious as to just how poor our voter participation has been lately (I was recalling a years-ago radio report on some other democracies having 90% or better voter turnout) and on infoplease found a chart of percentages of eligible voters voting (and also percentages of registered voters voting) over the last four decades.

In the 1960s, 60-65% of the voting-age population voted. In the 1990s and 2000s so far, it was 50-55%. Pathetic, I agree. But the projections I've heard are that we'll have record numbers of voters today, which ought to translate into increased percentages... so the 54% figure seems on the pessimistic side to me.

I'm hoping for 70% (but realize that's unrealistic).

Clumsy Knitter said...

I have also heard that window decals are a good idea. You can find them in all kinds of non-cartoony looks. I do like the album cover idea though...