Election 2012

I know that the word election makes many of us cringe. Another 'curse' word for me is politics. I hate politics and how divisive it is. I thought politics was a relatively new and horrible concept until I read the biography of John Adams by David McCullough. If you though elections and politics are bad now, you should hear what they did back in John Adams and Thomas Jefferson's day. They didn't have facebook and the internet back then, but that didn't stop them from spreading slander and all kinds of political retaliation.

I'm also not a fan of elections because of the famed electoral vote and the electoral college. We go out and vote today and create the popular vote. Then, our representatives vote "again" initially as part of the electoral college. It's pretty confusing when a candidate can win the popular vote but loose the election because of electoral votes. Only in America can we screw up our own democracy like this. Sheesh.

But then I watch movies like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Dave". Movies about people who might be nieve, but really set out to change the world in their own little way. It makes me have hope in our decisive country of ours- that elections, political retoric, red and blue- all this is not in vain. Just look at our soldiers and servicemen and women- what have they been fighting for? Step back and think about that.

No, it's not just about oil and power. Yes, we are a greedy nation. God, please forgive us for that. But what our wars and police actions and the like have been about for 200 plus years is about Freedom. (ah... I hear the great quote from "Braveheart" now...) All kidding aside, millions of people have died for this simple but powerful word. Freedom. It means we, here in the United States, have a voice. We take for granted this freedom- many won't vote today because of multiple reasons (including the electoral college thing). While they give this freedom the pushover, millions of people around the world would DIE to have such a freedom. And many will, in fact, because of regimes that won't hear their plea.

So please vote. No matter whether you vote red or blue (which is a fairly new concept by the way- thanks to the 2000 election http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states#Origins_of_the_color_scheme
but I learned it from "How the States Got Their Shapes" TV show).

Use your freedom that so many have fought long and hard for.