Happy Voting

I heart being an American. Why?

1. Apathy. No one cares if I vote or not.
2. Signposts of democracy--> Accepting the results of an election. GW lost the popular vote but no one stormed the White House in protest, we just accepted that we set up a system that must work somehow.
3. Red, white, blue.
4. Toby Keith- you can write a lame song about how you are going to shove a boot in someone's rear end for attacking our country and actually sell albums.
5. Red/Blue little states lighting up all over the internet. Can't wait to watch the coverage tonight because it is going to be so close. Or not.
6. The fact that voters sit around and make laws they do not understand-- We are voting on propositions 1-12 in California. I am voting "yes" to half and "no" to half. Lots of social issues- gay rights, animal rights, rights of minors, and rights of corporate America and I honestly have no idea on most of them.
7. Lauren Hanson. Do you know who she is? No? Neither do I, but she is on the ballot running for the local Water Board. I am not voting for her but for all I know she is an amazing individual and I had to pick based on her name alone-sometimes you vote on someone based on their occupation- like parent/teacher (oooh!) or litigator (boo!) or even worse "no ballot designation." This poor person won't get a single vote because what data do we have to vote on? Her name is Jacqueline Inda, though, so you might vote for or against her because of a gender or ethnicity that you might be leaning toward/against.
8. Absentee ballots- you can be out of the country and completely immersed in another culture- perhaps for over ten years- but you can still cast a vote for Lauren Hanson or Jacqueline Inda and feel proud that your vote is going to change laws affecting someone else.