I started an entry for this blog earlier today, about how I like voting. I was fresh from the polls and a little cranked up. I'm not nationalistic, but exercising my right to vote gets me all tingly. Adding to my giddiness was the fact that, for once, I was not in-and-out in 5 minutes. I had to wait in line about 20 minutes because there were a lot of other people exercising their right to vote as well.
Later today, while running my dog from vet to vet, I drove past other polling places. The parking lots were overflowing! On my way home, I had to squeeze down a two-lane road where parked cars were barely off the pavement, almost double parked, so their drivers and passengers could vote. It was amazing! If only we could always be so excited about an election.
Indiana has voted for a Republican president for the past 40 years. This year it is a toss-up AND we are a swing state. More amazement!
The woman who cuts my hair has never voted. I think she is intimidated by the whole process. To her and those like her, I say, Man up! Her husband is not voting this year, presumably because he does not want to vote for a black or a woman. Well, welcome to the new millennium, buddy! It is not a white male world out there.
I was one of those kids who believed all the stuff they taught us, about equality and democracy and the Constitution. As an adult, I have frequently been disappointed when we don't live up to our ideals, either individually or as a country. But today I can be innocent again, at least for a little while, because I saw so many people voting.
(For an historical look at voting in America, read this from the New Yorker.)
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