I have loathed the 2008 election to no end. It started way too early and has been a pissing match mostly between people whose interest is only furthering a governmental agenda and not ensuring the freedom (and subsequent responsibility) of the people. As I commented on Twitter this morning: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you..." Regardless of which party (i.e. Democrat or Republican), that is what you were casting a vote for. I didn't want either candidate to win, so I can't really say that I'm more disappointed in Obama winning. I'm disappointed in both parties and that is it.
The flip side to this story is that of two events that have truly made me smile. The first is a simple one: people voted... and a lot of them. (I'm sure there were plenty of duplicate and dead voters, but I guess no system is perfect.) I've always been raked over the coals by my German friends at the lack of voter turnout in our presidential elections. Thank you American friends for actually going to vote! Now I have something to brag about. Sure, we could do better than 60% (I hope the real numbers - once all of the votes are counted - are higher), but that is pretty amazing, considering I've read that turnout has been as low as 30% in the past few decades. And that's just sad... So, despite having to chose between two left leaning senators, I'm happy people tried to make the choice.
The second thing that really, truly made me smile was this: A. voted. I gave an employee (who is a contemporary) shit yesterday because I heard him say that he doesn't vote. I badgered him ... I even offered money ... not to vote a particular way, but to simply vote. I really didn't think much of it. I thought he'd take his raspberries and shake them off. This morning I was left with the following note on my desk:
"Steve,
Here's your sticker buddy, and if you need any questions answered ask away!
For real - I just wanna say thanks for pushing me to vote. I never had in my life, so I just felt a 'lil weird. Now that I have, it felt pretty good. So, for it being my first time I just wanna' say thank you.
A.
And it really wasn't hard at all & only took 5 min of my time!"
If that's all it takes to get people out to vote, I should have given everyone in the shop a hard time... That would have been at least 100 more people at the polls. There's always next election.
