Civic Doody

I voted.

I went to the local polling place and I voted.

I went through the gauntlet of candidate supporters without making eye contact.

There were a lot of people there. Old people, first time voters, windbags and kids.

It was a beautiful day. It was like a town picnic but without the fun.

No one seemed happy to be exercising their right to vote though...their "franchise" as the punditry calls it.

They were solemn. But I suspect that the mood was less out of respect for the process as it was about the idea that the process no longer seems to matter.

Right, Left, Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Green...all of the choices seem to be flawed...except maybe the Green one. That seemed to sum up how most people felt...around the gills that is.

I, for one, held my nose as I voted for the candidate who seemed the less worse of the choices. I couldn't imagine voting for one of them however the other one, the one who got my vote, is an arrogant, boring jerk who misrepresented himself during the run up to the campaign and lost all of the respect that I had had for him, which was plenty.

But I held my nose and I voted for him.

I voted because I can, because I have the right to and because I still believe in our form of government and in the possibility, even remote as it is, that my one, solitary, God Damned, measly little vote actually might count for something.

Most of me doesn't think it does any more...but I did it anyway...and I held out hope.

And I voted because it gives me the right to complain. I took part in my Constitutional civic duty.

I did the American thing. I voted.

But I didn't take the little "I Voted" sticker though and do you want to know why?

Because the privilege of voting shouldn't be reduced to a decorative element. It shouldn't be a fashion statement.

It's more important than that and if more people took it seriously then maybe, just maybe, things might be different and maybe things might be better.

So there!

I voted.

I just wanted you to know that. I sure hope you did too.