Well, here we are at Election Day! I have a history of taking the day off to vote, to make sure I’m not rushing around and to sit back and watch the returns and the news all day. Much like all of you, I’m suffering badly from election fatigue. Despite the fact I do enjoy politics, I am tired of hearing political ads every single commercial break. No matter how tired I get, especially at the end of a long campaign like this, there is something special about the actual Election Day itself and it’s always been important for me to take part in the process.
That’s what the day should be about for all of us; take your part in the process. We’re all willing to sit back and criticize but without the vote it’s completely meaningless.
Well, I did my part this morning. As usual, my polling polling place was organized and voting was speedy. I was in, voted, out and home in under 20 minutes. Since I’m really not bothered discussing my vote, I thought I’d share with you all who I voted for in the big election and why. For president I voted for Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate.
I can almost hear the cries of, “You threw your vote away!” Of course, I didn’t that’s just what people say when they’re trying to convince my valuable swing vote to their guy. Granted, unless a lot of America stops voting inside the two-party system, it is unlikely I will win, but that does not change the specialness or the importance of the vote I cast. Why would I vote for Barr? After all, he is a rather unimpressive candidate. Well, for me, it came down to a simple matter of math.
I agree with about 50% of Obama’s standpoints – the social aspects especially, though he’s far too supportive of state power and far too critical of financial success for my liking. You just can’t expect people to try to succeed if you penalize them with higher taxes for that success.
I agree with about 50% of McCain’s beliefs – Defense and economics mostly, but he is still mired in the religio-social beliefs of the 16th century and helped pass that dreadful McCain-Feingold Finance reform bill. Like most current Republicans, he also suffers from spenditis and seems to like bigger government.
More importantly, I agree with about 80 % of Barr’s stands on the issues. He’s a weird mix of some of the things I like about the two fellas above, but without as much of the crap and the bonus of liking lower, and fairer taxes to boot. He’s a religious man, much to my dismay, but despite all my searching, I could find a good write-in atheist candidate that wasn’t foreign born. From my standpoint, voting for anyone other than Barr would be wasting my vote on a candidate I simply don’t agree with.
So, if you’re willing, who did you vote for and why? Don’t be afraid to speak up, after all it’s your vote, you should be proud of it, not hide it! And let me see those stickers! No matter who you vote for get your butt out there and vote!
November 4th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Sadly, I didn’t even realize Barr existed until reading this post. Next election I’ll try to find out about *all* my choices.
That said, I voted Obama. He’s not perfect, but I agree with more of his policies than I do McCain’s. I feel McCain would be Bush all over again and… eh. I’m not a fan. The idea of Palin being in a position to possibly go from VP to P also terrifies me. Honestly? I probably wouldn’t have gotten involved in this election at all – but then I heard about Palin, started doing some research on everyone, and given the current state of economy and world suck I figured finally getting involved in stuff like this couldn’t hurt.
(Secretly, I’ve been giddy as I watch results and see Democrats pwn Republicans. I’m mature.)
November 4th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Honestly, I’m enjoying watching this as well, but more for the historical aspect of it all. The candidates, the turnout, all of it.
The sad thing about this election is that, despite the freshness and newness of Obama, there were really no good choices this election. In addition, I’d add the apparent failure to defeat the “marriage protection” propositions and amendments offered to take the right of marriage and even civil unions from the gay community.
We grew up a little, sounds like we need to grow up some more.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:09 am
I think… at the very least, socially, things will improve. Republicans tend to be more conservative than Democrats. Usually it’s the Republicans in office that are all about not letting gay people marry, or being about overturning Roe v. Wade. Things like that. And with more Democrats, I don’t think such things will happen. It’s so boggling that even in this day and age there are still people who want to deny others *basic* rights.
I’m really hoping things get better with this new generation of people who don’t think like ye olden day people did.
Economically, we’re going to have to play the game of wait and see. Yay.
/ramblerambleramble
November 5th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I absolutely agree. After all, this social business is the kind of thing I actually agree with Obama on the liberals on. Same goes for drug issues and just a whole slew of other social topics alot of conservatives just will never support as a majority party.
However, I very very leary of state power. Democrats tend to favor a rather liberal use of the state to get all their pet projects done and I think the last thing we need is the government poking around in eeryone’s lives.
Like you said… we’ll see. But for now, it’s a good day, even if there are stilla few clouds in the sky.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:05 am
I live over in the UK, and even though the elections have been all over the place down here, I didn’t even know about another candidate (Barr) before reading this post! Shows you how the media can influence…
Dan posted: Why Writing Guest Posts Is Good For Beginners
November 6th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Third parties here always get a bit of the back seat treatment. I’m constantly told I’m “wasting my vote” just for not voting for one of the two major parties.
There was even a third party debate, which only a few folks watched.
November 9th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I wrote in Ralph Nader. I live in 1 of the 2 states in which he was not on the ballot.
I like his views and don’t think that there is much of a difference between Obama and Mccain other than age and race.
Adam – Creadiv posted: Bad Mood Blogging
November 10th, 2008 at 8:37 am
While I’m certainly not a huge Nader fan, I’m glad to see I was not the only one that didn’t think much of either candidate. What I *really* wanted was a good viable atheist write-in, but freethinkers tend to be poorly organized, lol.