My Diatribe on Voting

Today's political headlines are absolutely driving me nuts. "African American Turnout Will Determine Election Outcome", "Unmarried Women May Be Key Variable In Election". Crap. All of it. Polls. Total crap. Even when I was drinking the campaign Kool Aid, I didn't believe any of it. Polls are numbers, and you can make numbers say anything you want them to. Think about it - polls exclude most people in our generation because we don't have land line phone numbers listed in a phone book. How the hell can they be accurate?

Know what I think the truth is? We're ALL the key variable on Election Day. If we've learned anything in the last 6 years, it should be that every single vote counts. Sadly, the ones that count the most are the ones that are never cast. Elections are won and lost, causes live and die, and our American way of life is trampled by apathy.

Hopefully you've registered to vote. If you're registered, there's no good reason not to take the time to drive a few blocks to your local polling location on Tuesday. Or even better (especially if you happen to be fortunate enough to live in Montomery County, Maryland), vote absentee so you don't have to worry about dragging yourself out of bed next Tuesday morning to stand in line for way too long to mess with some dumb machine that is somehow more difficult to use than a Palm Pilot.

If reason escaped you this year and you're not registered to vote, do something to make up for your laziness and volunteer. You don't have to pick a party or a cause to volunteer for, but find some local organization that does something worthwhile, like drive the elderly and disabled to the polls. And whether you're registered to vote or not, encourage everyone around you to exercise their civic duty. It's time for us to give a damn about the things that really matter in the world around us.