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NB: this post has a decidedly USA-focus, because i'm a citizen of the USA, and it's Presidential Election Season.
this is will be my only serious political post of the election season. i won't say 'ever', because given the message of this post, i'll probably repeat it, sooner or later. my message is: vote.
if you're republican, vote. democrat, vote. libertarian, green, independent, third-eye-blind, vote.
if you like one of the candidates, vote for them. if you hate the both Obama and Romney, vote for anyone else on the ballot. if you can't bring yourself to vote for someone typed on the ballot, write a suitable candidate in. for the US Presidency, requirements are:
1) born, not naturalized, citizen.
2) older than 35 years of age.
3) been a resident of the United States for 14 years.
4) has not previously served 2 terms, consecutive or otherwise.
(the first 3 are Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution, the last on is Amendment 22.)
this leaves a huge field of candidates available for write-in.
votes are never wasted, even if the person you're voting for is your cousin twice removed who's a hermit in the Rocky Mountains that hasn't seen another living soul in the last 20 years.
the only wasted votes are those not cast. every other vote is a comment on our current political system, whether for or against, or so frustrated you'd like to bomb the entire Hill to smithereens.
it's also the biggest nod of respect you can give to previous generations and current veterans: every person in the Revolutionary War, every NA defending their homes, every slave who rebelled against the overseers, every woman who marched for suffrage. an awful lot of people sacrificed an awful lot of everything so that we could vote. it wasn't perfect suffrage in the past, i doubt it's perfect suffrage now, and it may not be perfect suffrage for a while going forward - but the ability to cast a vote and have a voice in our government is what we started out fighting for, it's been a major driver behind most of our internal conflicts and a healthy portion of our external ones, and i have no doubt it will be a major driving force behind our conflicts going forward.
so vote. tell the world what you think. anonymously, of course.
-boogieshoes
this is will be my only serious political post of the election season. i won't say 'ever', because given the message of this post, i'll probably repeat it, sooner or later. my message is: vote.
if you're republican, vote. democrat, vote. libertarian, green, independent, third-eye-blind, vote.
if you like one of the candidates, vote for them. if you hate the both Obama and Romney, vote for anyone else on the ballot. if you can't bring yourself to vote for someone typed on the ballot, write a suitable candidate in. for the US Presidency, requirements are:
1) born, not naturalized, citizen.
2) older than 35 years of age.
3) been a resident of the United States for 14 years.
4) has not previously served 2 terms, consecutive or otherwise.
(the first 3 are Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution, the last on is Amendment 22.)
this leaves a huge field of candidates available for write-in.
votes are never wasted, even if the person you're voting for is your cousin twice removed who's a hermit in the Rocky Mountains that hasn't seen another living soul in the last 20 years.
the only wasted votes are those not cast. every other vote is a comment on our current political system, whether for or against, or so frustrated you'd like to bomb the entire Hill to smithereens.
it's also the biggest nod of respect you can give to previous generations and current veterans: every person in the Revolutionary War, every NA defending their homes, every slave who rebelled against the overseers, every woman who marched for suffrage. an awful lot of people sacrificed an awful lot of everything so that we could vote. it wasn't perfect suffrage in the past, i doubt it's perfect suffrage now, and it may not be perfect suffrage for a while going forward - but the ability to cast a vote and have a voice in our government is what we started out fighting for, it's been a major driver behind most of our internal conflicts and a healthy portion of our external ones, and i have no doubt it will be a major driving force behind our conflicts going forward.
so vote. tell the world what you think. anonymously, of course.
-boogieshoes
