Distinguished Company

So the economy’s in the toilet, your portfolio is close to worthless and your retirement age is now 124. But at least in one respect, you’re on an equal footing with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and you’re just as powerful as the President.

They only have one vote, just like you.

Of course, it all depends on how you use it. It’s a really important thing, and not all of us take it as seriously as we should. Do you vote a certain way because your family always has, or because your spouse or your best friend vote that way, or even because of the opinions of Keith or Rush? Or do you make up your own mind?

How about “sending a message?” It seems like a forgone conclusion that Obama will win California, but I have a relative who wants to send a message to him that he’s not entitled to a mandate, even though that voter believes Obama is qualified to be president. Then there’s the issue of having Democrats in charge of everything and the presumed need for checks and balances. If the Democrats do win, don’t worry. They’ll have no money to spend, and if they want to raise our taxes, well, we don’t have enough to pay them anyway, do we?

I think you should vote for the candidate you want to fill a particular office -- even if that candidate doesn’t belong to a major party. You’re going to hear a lot about “throwing away your vote,” but true throwing away is, of course, not voting at all. If you vote for the person who is really in line with your views, you’re sending all the message you need to send.

Where I live, there’s just too much stuff on the ballot. If you really take this voting business seriously, it’s work. You have to study the candidates and the issues, especially if there are all those no-means-yes and yes-means-no propositions facing you. Sometimes I just don’t have a clue, but I never flip coins or do the eeny-meeny-miny thing. I just leave those items blank. I feel that I’m not qualified to vote on something I really don’t understand. Usually, those are the least important things I just didn’t get around to reading about.

The great thing about this election is that the electorate is finally paying attention. I have a strong feeling that whoever wins the presidency won’t be able to get away with very much, because too many of us will be watching.

This is really an historic moment for voters, whether you’re doing it for the first time or you’ve been at it for decades. It would be a real shame if you had the ability to participate and didn’t. Heck, you can be right up there with Bill and Warren. Or Keith and Rush. Or Barack and John. And even Sarah.

There, now I’ve said it.