And we're done...

For another 4 years. Sort of.

At least, for the presidential campaign. Our neck of the woods is still counting votes for the state elections. We probably won't know the final outcome until later on tonight for most of it.

Either way you voted, you have to admit that this has been an interesting campaign, and a monumental one, besides. The only terror that I have at this point was listening to two people in the last two weeks talk about their views on voting in one way or another.

The first one I listened to was a gal who was my friend Ronni's roommate. She apparently likes to read out loud, regardless of the actual content of what's on the paper she's reading... Her non-stop commentary was about as follows...

"Gee... Hmmmm... Oh, hey! There's a woman running. Did you know there's a woman running? I'm voting for her, then!"

"Um... both of these names sound russian. Don't they sound russian to you? But I can't tell about the third one. What? It's possibly Serbian? Or Polish? Oh. Well, I'll vote for one of the russians then, I guess."

"I don't get what this measure is all about. What do they mean? Hmm? Oh, I know the booklet is on the table over there, but I'm just going to vote randomly on these ones. Why don't they make this more clear?"

It really REALLY made me shudder to think that she was actually allowed a vote, considering she wasn't really even interested in what was going on, nor interested in learning...

The other was the gal I ran into last night on the bus on the way home, who apparently runs her life by the old testament scriptures...

"Well, my belief is that you have to learn how to govern your own person first, and Man should not create a system of justice against itself without that learning - it's up to God to do that. That's why I don't vote."

I see. Never mind that without some sort of government system, imperfect or not, made by man or not, you have absolute chaos, and you won't have ANYTHING at ALL. I mean, honestly... Let's see here - we aren't perfect, and our system certainly isn't - but it's the best we can do for now, until we can figure out how to get around that pesky human nature thing. We can choose to do the best we can with what we've got, and work within those confines, understanding that, even as an imperfect system, we are allowing each person the chance to make a difference within the world by creating, adjusting, and generally managing said system.

She didn't like it when I pointed that out to her.

Honestly, let's really think about this here - no, I don't believe that the Electoral College is a good thing. It's old, it's outdated, and with the technology that we have today, it should go the way of the Do-Do and be ousted out. One person, one vote. That's what we advocate, right? That's what people from all walks of life and all countries come here for, right? True democracy... So, let's have some.

Do I think that my vote counted... I can't tell, unfortunately. Because the Electoral College is what matters at this point, it's what made the final decision. It is possible that a president could lose the popular vote, but win the EC vote. That, to me isn't right. But, there it is. The system isn't perfect, but it's there. None-the-less, I vote. Why? Because it's my right to do so, and without voting, I don't have the right to bitch about how the country is run. I do my part, and cast my vote as part of the system to help direct my country. If you don't vote (regardless of which side you vote for), don't bitch. You didn't do your part.

~M