Voting

Today is the day the many in South Carolina have been waiting for….today should be the last day of the ridiculous political ads to be played ad naseum. Oh yeah, today is the day of the South Carolina primary voting which, if you believe the hype, is the day the Republican Presidential candidate will be selected (take that Iowa and New Hampshire!). Of course, they’ll say that SC has picked the candidate in the last number of contests (since 1980). Eventually that will change but for many here there is a sense of pride in this. Now the fact is that this is the 3rd of the contests and that many of the candidates drop out so there are fewer to pick from and therefore the odds swing in our favor (right now it’s a 50-50 chance). But let’s not muddy the water with facts (let’s stick to a debate format, we got this question from Matt in Bumpkinville on our Twitter feed, Matt has an important concern that is on the mind of many Americans during this tough economic time. Matt wants to know why you don’t have a cat. We’ll start with Rep. Ron Paul. “Well, there aren’t any cats mentioned in the Constitution….” [his supporters wearing their aluminum foil hats cheer and walk away from the debate thinking that cats are part of the anti-Ron Paul conspiracy]).

Anyhow, back to the day. Although a Presidential election did not occur during our time abroad, we are very happy to be back in the US take part in one of the roles of an American citizen. It is a privilege to vote and unfortunately many in the US do not feel the need to perform this function. Some, like those convicted of crimes, have forfeited this opportunity but for the remainder….there are very limited excuses that can explain why they did not vote (even those that are “disenfranchised because they have to show a valid state ID in order to vote). When you look around the world, it speaks volumes that so many turn their backs on this opportunity. Voter turnout in the US is well below what it should be and Americans should be ashamed of this fact. We have become fat and lazy and have forgotten the sacrifices that have been made in the past (and are still being made). It’s funny that in China, people believe that life in the US is easy because we have “human rights”. Instead many Americans have taken for granted that voting will always be there and believe that they only need to vote “when it matters”. Sorry folks, but it matters each and every time!

Get out there and make your choice known or shut the heck up! If you don’t vote (and believe me I think there should be some kind of test to keep stupid people from voting but that’s a different post) then don’t complain about the outcome. Don’t tell me my vote doesn’t count because I know when I leave the booth, my guy has one more vote than the other guy.