One day more!!
Nov. 1st, 2004 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenOne day more, people! C'mon, who wants to do a Les Miz sing-along?
I'm as excited as if it was Christmas Eve. I've already set my alarm clock so I can get up early. My hope is to get up at 7, immediately go to the polls, then come back in plenty of time to have breakfast and get ready for work.
It'll be interesting to see what kind of crowd there is. I'm going early in the morning so I can avoid the after-work rush, but this is a commuter town so there might be enough people rushing the place first thing in the morning too. Depending on how tonight goes, I may even try to make it there at 6.
I hate getting up early, by the way. This is what wanting Dubya out of office has done to me.
Other people are already going around with their comments and essays about voting. I thought about trying to whip together a motivational essay but at this point I'm not sure what I could say to convince somebody who hasn't already made up their minds. Instead, I give you some points to consider:
Look, don't get me wrong. If you like things like the Patriot Act, abstinance-only sex education, the handling of the budget, the handling of Iraq, the handling of the war on terror, No Child Left Behind, and so on then yes, vote for George W. Bush. He is clearly the candidate that represents your views. I would never tell somebody not to vote for Bush if Bush is the candidate that they really want. I might get into a discussion with them about why they like Bush's policies, but I wouldn't tell them that they're backing the wrong horse.
But if you're thinking of not voting for Kerry simply because "all politicians suck" or "he's not charismatic enough" or "my vote doesn't matter" then I'm sorry, that's not a good enough reason. In the past four years we've seen just how much a president can do to change what's going on in this country. If you like those changes, then vote for Bush. But if you don't then vote for Kerry. Kerry is the only chance we have to get Dubya out of office, and in a country where the number of people who vote for a guy in the popular numbers does say something about what we want, even if the electoral college screws us over, then yes, every vote matters.
If you want to vote independant I get that, but put those votes in the other races going on. Support your third party candidates in their bids for Congress. Help build support for a multi-party system (which I do agree with) in races where the numbers will be more noticable, and you actually have a chance of getting a non Republican or Democrat elected (I'll be doing this myself). Don't do it with the presidential election. Not this year. Next time around maybe, but not this time.
So get on out there. Go to the polls and make your voice heard. As I'm sure you'll hear quoted a lot in the next 36 hours, decisions are made by those who show up. Don't be scared off by what color your state is supposed to be, don't assume that your state is going to end up voting for the guy the pundits told you your state was going to vote for (one of the dumbest things to do is not go vote because you assume the candidate you want is going to be elected thanks to other people doing it for you), don't stay home and give your voice away.
Huh. Guess I had a few words on the subject after all. Ahem.
On a final (for now) note: It is now officially 28 days until my birthday. Zombie jokes aside, wouldn't a brand-new president for the US be a spiffy present to give me? 8)
o/~ One! Day! Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! o/~
I'm as excited as if it was Christmas Eve. I've already set my alarm clock so I can get up early. My hope is to get up at 7, immediately go to the polls, then come back in plenty of time to have breakfast and get ready for work.
It'll be interesting to see what kind of crowd there is. I'm going early in the morning so I can avoid the after-work rush, but this is a commuter town so there might be enough people rushing the place first thing in the morning too. Depending on how tonight goes, I may even try to make it there at 6.
I hate getting up early, by the way. This is what wanting Dubya out of office has done to me.
Other people are already going around with their comments and essays about voting. I thought about trying to whip together a motivational essay but at this point I'm not sure what I could say to convince somebody who hasn't already made up their minds. Instead, I give you some points to consider:
- Vote, even if you're in a state where they're trying to convince you that your vote for president won't matter
- Vote, because there are more races going on right now than the presidental election
- Being apathetic about John Kerry is not a good enough reason to vote for George Bush
- Being apathetic about John Kerry is not a good enough reason to vote for a third-party candidate
- Being apathetic about politicians in general is not a good enough reason to do anything that might keep Dubya in office
Look, don't get me wrong. If you like things like the Patriot Act, abstinance-only sex education, the handling of the budget, the handling of Iraq, the handling of the war on terror, No Child Left Behind, and so on then yes, vote for George W. Bush. He is clearly the candidate that represents your views. I would never tell somebody not to vote for Bush if Bush is the candidate that they really want. I might get into a discussion with them about why they like Bush's policies, but I wouldn't tell them that they're backing the wrong horse.
But if you're thinking of not voting for Kerry simply because "all politicians suck" or "he's not charismatic enough" or "my vote doesn't matter" then I'm sorry, that's not a good enough reason. In the past four years we've seen just how much a president can do to change what's going on in this country. If you like those changes, then vote for Bush. But if you don't then vote for Kerry. Kerry is the only chance we have to get Dubya out of office, and in a country where the number of people who vote for a guy in the popular numbers does say something about what we want, even if the electoral college screws us over, then yes, every vote matters.
If you want to vote independant I get that, but put those votes in the other races going on. Support your third party candidates in their bids for Congress. Help build support for a multi-party system (which I do agree with) in races where the numbers will be more noticable, and you actually have a chance of getting a non Republican or Democrat elected (I'll be doing this myself). Don't do it with the presidential election. Not this year. Next time around maybe, but not this time.
So get on out there. Go to the polls and make your voice heard. As I'm sure you'll hear quoted a lot in the next 36 hours, decisions are made by those who show up. Don't be scared off by what color your state is supposed to be, don't assume that your state is going to end up voting for the guy the pundits told you your state was going to vote for (one of the dumbest things to do is not go vote because you assume the candidate you want is going to be elected thanks to other people doing it for you), don't stay home and give your voice away.
Huh. Guess I had a few words on the subject after all. Ahem.
On a final (for now) note: It is now officially 28 days until my birthday. Zombie jokes aside, wouldn't a brand-new president for the US be a spiffy present to give me? 8)
o/~ One! Day! Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! o/~
