Get Out and Vote! Even if it doesn't make a difference damn-it!

Hey, you can see it in the picture - that's where I am and that's what I'm doing. Exercising my constitutional right to vote. Sure, I know that living in the Commonwealth of MA that it was essentially "vote for the liberal of your choice day" (true - there were only 2 Reps and 1 Indy running for any major office). I knew that my vote was the same as spitting into the wind, yet, I still went out and did it. :-) Oh, and by the way, the Republicans in this state are so liberal they'd be considered liberal Democrats anywhere else in the union!

But, today I went out and voted. I got mad though. Why? Because there were so many people that ran unopposed! Why is that? Have we become so apathetic that we don't run either? So, we have no alternatives to the people in office and then no one comes out to vote. Seems kind of self-defeating, don't you think?

It looks like the Democrats are going to pick up around 30 seats. Actually, it's a pretty amazing number for the US to have that much turn over. I remember reading a stat once that showed that members of the Politburo in Communist USSR had more turnover than our houses of Congress. In this case that 30 seats is almost 7% of the seats available. Thinking about that - it's really pretty pathetic. We've got an unpopular war, an imperial and bullying President, issues with the budget, stem cell research and of course, abortion. With all that, we still only turn over maybe 8-9% of the total houses of Congress (including the Senate). Isn't that wrong?

Listen. I really don't give a Ding-Dong, Ho-Ho or King Don about labels. I care about getting stuff done. I'm a registered Republican, but I don't agree with a lot of the current Neo-con agenda or methodology. I think that the truth runs somewhere between a true conservative (fiscal), progressive (think 1920's progressive) and libertarian. I want fiscal restraint, I want less government pork but I want the government to help where it can and in a way that only the government of a nation this size can do. I'd love to know what you think.

Oh, if you've made it this far... I've got an offer for you. If you can prove to me that you voted, I've got a gift for you. If you like Mac stuff then you can have my book, A Mac Eye for the Windows Guy. If you'd like some great Palm software (PDA Essentials and TuCows say it's great!) then I'll give you any piece of software that you'd like. Just let me know!