Ya' know, between Saturday and yesterday, I've had a zillion things to do (as usual) - seems to be the complaint du jour - and I almost, just almost considered not going to vote yesterday. I can't believe the thought actually raced through my head on my way out of work yesterday. I am honestly mad at myself for even thinking that way - I wonder how many people actually acted on that "feeling" of being too tired, too overworked, etc... Well, I went and did my duty. I'm happy I did and I'm mad that others didn't.
We elected a questionable figure to the governor's mansion in Wisconsin. I am irritated I didn't actually vote for Thomson - it wouldn't have mattered, so to speak - but maybe if more people would have voted for him, Doyle wouldn't have gotten elected and we would have had a decent (McCallum) or really good (Thomson) governor as master of this state. Well, that's not the case, and I and my fellow Wisconsinites have to live with it... I get this feeling of, "well, if you are going to vote for someone who is clueless about economics and freedom, then I can't wait to see what the consequences are on YOUR life and not those of your enemies." I always get this feeling that people vote for the person who they feel is going to squash those around them, "keeping them down." As if a politician can right the wrongs in your life and make you live better -- no, only YOU can do that (given freedom to do so) and it is your responsibility to get off your duff and do something about it. The only thing a politician can do is create more red tape and infringe upon the freedoms that we already have - unless they truly believe that limiting the government's beaurocratic mechanisms are in the best interest of the people. No, I am not a right, right-wing Libertarian - I cannot go so far as to say that I agree with most of what they tend to believe (I think "us" libertarians tend to go to far in limiting what the government does - mainly because it is unlikely that people will suddenly remove their laziness and become productive people... but that's another argument to get into another day) - but I will continue to vote for most of their representatives because they seem to be the only party that is willing to say no to people's whining.
Whew... Take a deep breath. This was only meant to be a few sentences about voting and look what happend. RANT ALERT!!!
I'm glad that I voted, period. It is amazing to see how low voter turnout is in this country. I imagine there are tons of excuses as to why people don't vote, but they all point to one thing - we are lazy and we take our freedom for granted. As long as that is the case, we will continue to hamper our own progress into the future.
