Voting!

Today, I voted for the first time.  I called my parents so they could congratulate me.  I got a sweet "I voted today!" sticker.  It was pretty excellent.  Exercising constitutional rights is one of my favorite things.

And you know why I did it? Partly because I'm interested in how the country is run and want to have input in it.  But the perhaps more driving force was this: to complain.  I think that's actually pretty reflective of the driving force behind much of the youth.  We are constantly looking for more excuses to gripe.  While we're angry about harsher dress codes, being forced by parents to adhere to curfew, etc., we're also secretly delighted because it's another excuse to find fault with the world.  Being dissatisfied is one of our greatest pleasures.

You can't really change the fact that it's snowing.  But that's not so for politics.  When you complain about how America is run, you have to have at least done something  to try to make it better.  The Constitution offers you a way to have input for minimal effort.  If you're not willing to do even that, you don't have the right to be righteously indignant.  People just aren't going to care.  I'm tired of people whining about how bad Bush is and how their votes don't matter.  Or people only vote for the president.  I'd like to point out that there are other important things to vote for, like trying to regain majority in the Senate. 

And you don't know until the votes are counted whether or not you were making the difference or just adding to the majority vote.  Basing your action on the possibility of not making the difference in an election is foolish.  Less than 50% of the voting population voted in 2002.  It's outrageous that less than half the country decides something that important.

I must state for the record: we are going to take the Senate back, bitches.  As of right now, Republicans have 44 seats and Democrats have 43 seats; we only 8 more to get the majority.

technorati tags:voting, constitution