Vote For Jeremy!

Only one more day of political office robo-calls.  I can make it…

One last bit of pointless political punditry from your favorite comedy blagger, Jeremy.  Do note, Jeremy does not publicly endorse any candidate, at least partially because none of them have paid him to.  Something he would like to see changed for the 2016 election cycle, which begins in earnest on Wednesday.  

To my entire lack of surprise, I came into the office this morning to see my voicemail light blinking away.  This is fairly common, actually, but even moreso during election time.  Candidates from all over the place robo-call my office phone relentlessly pandering for my vote.  Apparently, the only thing between them and my vote is a completely non-personal phone call asking politely.  Not such frivolous things as electoral maps, which entirely prevent me from voting for a different district's congressional race, or positions on actual issues relevant to me as a voter.  Nope...none of that crap.  Computerized phone call!  

So, this morning, I had three voicemails from political candidates, and got one more robo-call later on in the day.  Quite honestly, I don't remember who any of them were supporting, since I deleted the messages pretty instantly, and hung up on the other one without a word.  That was almost a shame, because his recording was so folksy, even asking how I was before introducing himself and asking for a personal favor.  He seemed like a genuinely nice guy...but I have no idea who it was, or if I'll be voting for him.  Don't get me wrong...I know exactly who I'm voting for tomorrow in all of the available races, but I genuinely have no idea if this guy was one of them, because I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to his name after ascertaining that it was a robo-call. 

Which brings me to my final point for today.  This is my bi-annual request to all of you out there, and do know that I am entirely genuine in this belief.  Don't be afraid to not vote.  Don't be bullied or persuaded into voting out of some sort of misguided civic duty.  Voting is indeed your right and a privilege, but if you have to be talked into doing it, don't.  If you are fully expecting to walk into your voting booth and learning then and there who is even on the ballot, don't vote.  If you don't have at least a rudimentary understanding of a candidates position on an important issue for you and how their stance affects you, don't vote.  If a single biased special interest group (examples include, but are certainly not limited to the NRA and the AFL-CIO), has convinced you to fear and/or hate one candidate, don't vote.  If you expect to walk into a polling place and vote entirely down a single party line because "I'm a democrat!" or "I'm a republican!" don't vote.  The right to vote is truly the defining characteristic of the representative democracy we have in this country, and it absolutely should be wielded.  But, it should be wielded responsibly, by people who understand not only what is at stake, but what their vote means.  It should be wielded by informed people with a true desire to see their government succeed.  It absolutely should not be wielded by people ignorant of the issues who allow their views to be defined by biased pundits on TV news, talk radio, or blogs (and blags) on the internet.  It should not be wielded by completely misguided people who vote because "that candidate's gonna take my guns away" or "that other candidate only cares about billionaire campaign donors!"  

If you are going to vote, please, for the love of all things good and plenty, learn.  Read a side-by-side comparison of the two candidates not put forth by talk radio or TV news.  There are plenty of unbiased websites on the internet that only print facts and not hyperbole-laced stump speeches and vitriolic attack ads.  If you need a place to start, Go Here.  Don't even look at the candidates names.  Read their stance and ideas on the issues relevant to you and see which one more closely aligns to what you want.  You may be surprised who you end up choosing. 

Instead of hearing a candidates name and allowing your personal feelings to take over in an "I hate that candidate" or "I'm voting for that person" moment, start with a mentally clean slate.  Start with the assumption that both candidates on the ballot are good and decent people with a genuine interest in seeing the area they wish to represent, including all of the people there, thrive.  Start with the understanding that no matter what you think of their stance on any issue, somewhere close to 50% of the people around you feel differently, so your opinion may be the best for you, but may not be the best for everyone.  And finally, and most importantly, start with the understanding that the grand political spectrum is very very wide, but the bulk of American politics takes place within a relatively small section of it.  No matter who you vote for, there is no way America is going to devolve into a Soviet-era socialist state, nor into a decentralized radical fundamentalism.  All of the candidates believe in a representative democracy and a free-market based economic system.  There is plenty of area to work with within those bounds, but it's nowhere near what it could be on a global scale.  So if your candidate doesn't win, relax.  It's not like you had a choice between Chocolate and Vanilla.  You had a choice between Vanilla and French Vanilla.