I love Election Day.
It is one of my favorite days of the year for two completely different reasons. First is because it is such an amazing gift we have in this country. The second, well let’s just say that it is probably the sentiment of most of the nation.

Every major election day I reflect back to how I was able to go to my polling place, gripe that it is so far away from my house (about a mile) and that I have to stand in line behind maybe two people. Okay, maybe that was a little on the sarcastic side. But isn’t that how we feel when we take for granted this wondrous thing we call voting? I think about how women had to fight for the right to vote. They were imprisoned and beaten and seen as forgoing their duties as a mother and wife, just to have the right to walk in to a polling place and make her voice heard. The same goes with minorities. My children do not understand when I tell them that at one time only white males could vote. I like the fact that they look at me like I’m from another planet when I tell them that. They have very little sense of a segregated world. But at the same time, I want them to fully understand how we came to be that we can all go to the polls together and to never ever take that for granted.

I also try to tell my children about what happens in other countries. I have never yet, had to worry about my polling place being blown apart while I was voting, nor of being shot at while trying to get to a polling place. I have never had to risk losing my life for the simple act of voting. I see people all the time in foreign elections that are so proud of the fact that they got to actually cast a vote that matters. They dipped their fingers willingly in the purple ink so that their voice can be heard. How much fear goes along with that? Did they walk back home just to be accosted on the streets asking who they voted for? Did they have to report to their bosses how they voted to keep their jobs?

Then there are the countries that don’t get that right at all. They live in a dictatorship filled with corruption and violence. I try to instill in my children how those people would (and probably will someday) give everything, just for the right to vote. I pray that I and those around me, never take for granted what a precious joy it should be to be able to walk freely in to a polling place and let our voices be heard.

The other reason I really like Election Day is that all the political ads are finally over. Whatever happened to integrity and hard work? They have been replaced by mudslinging and half truths. These are people basically having a really long interview process to decide on a job. I would like to see how that works in real life. If I know I am one of the top candidates for a job and I’ve known Bob for years and find out that he is one of the top candidates as well, how do I go in to the interview. Am I really going to go in to my interview and when Mr. Interviewer asks me what I thought my strengths and qualifications are, am I really going to say, well I know that I have good ideas and can do this job, but let me tell you about Bob. A couple of years ago, I saw him really get drunk at a Christmas party. I think you should not consider him for this job. That’s why I should get it, because Bob is a lousy drunk. Do you really think it would work that way in real life? Then why should it work that way for politics? So for months we have been subjected to more and more negative campaigning. I think my vote really comes down to who slung the least amount of mud. Who is the least dirtiest out there?
I also hate it when they start talking about fighting the other party. Doesn’t matter if it is Republican or Democrat, the other is the mortal enemy of politicians. I am really tired of people saying they are going to Washington (or the state capital) just to start fighting with people. Great, so go up there, be a big bully, rally your other big bully friends and go knock some heads around. I can really see that as a way to win friends and influence people. Why can’t we all just get along? I would love for someone to say that they have all fouled up the country. We’ve also all had some great ideas as well. Why can’t we just sit in a room, throw in all the ideas and together morph them in to something that will actually work? If I was in Congress and someone came up to me and said that my idea was no better than a large dung heap, and they had a much better idea that was rainbows and butterflies, do you really think at that point I would even be listening? What if instead, they came up and said, hey, your idea was interesting, I thought point A was good, but I wanted to run something by you for point B. Don’t you think that we might come to some sort of solution? Wouldn’t I be less likely to lift him up and throw him into the big pile of dung mentioned earlier? Okay, so maybe the good reason that I don’t run for office is I still believe in the world of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I want to believe that there is someone out there who is actually looking out for my good, not just the good of his own pockets.

Okay, enough of my rantings. For all eligible people, please, go study the issues and the candidates and GO VOTE!! And please teach your children what a wonderfully special gift this is. Unfortunately we won’t be home to celebrate election night coverage (another favorite), but I know that whatever the outcome tonight’s election will be anything but boring.