The 21st Century is alive and well in this election, if you choose to look for it. The Main Stream Media is no longer our only source of information.

It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to really KNOW the candidates and the issues. It is our responsibility to ‘read the fine print’.

People, in general, seem to be quite accustomed to making snap judgments on others without taking the time for form an educated and thoughtful position of their own.

Then there are those that don’t choose to just follow along blindly, like lemmings and prefer to carefully weigh the information given them before offering an opinion. The people who are influenced by what they hear or who they associate with and just go along with whatever they feel is easiest for them. IMHO, they are cowards.

I’ll share two personal experiences I’ve had in the past few months:

The first was outside the DMV earlier in the summer. A older woman had a table set up and was volunteering to gather signatures for local/State Propositions and Candidates. As I stood there and read every single one, she was growing restless and was pushing for me to ‘just sign’.

I don’t sign my name to anything if I don’t know what I’m signing, sorry.

In talking with her, I asked her opinion of the 2 Presidential Candidates. Her reply was “I don’t like Obama because of that whole Rev. Wright thing.” She offered no opinion regarding McCain.

I stood there and just looked at her and said, “Well, I’m quite certain Senator Obama is capable of forming his own opinions.”

The look on her face was priceless (or not) and she said, “Oh! I never thought of that!”

Well, why not?

The second has to do with a comment my very own daughter made. She said to me, “I can’t vote for a black guy.”

I was absolutely floored! This will be the 3rd Presidential election she’s voted in, one of her Aunties is half black, one is Philippino (with respective nieces and nephews)…….and she HERSELF is 1/2 Native American!!

So, where does this ‘out of the blue’ racism come from? Her significant other. Obviously, she’s made the choice to just follow along and not make waves. And, that is incredibly, incredibly sad.

As for me? I’m voting for Obama. He’s intelligent, articulate, has a strong set of morals and values, is of strong character and is incredibly unflappable and diplomatic

I’m not voting for McCain because he lacks strong character, morals and IMHO, the only thing he values is himself.

In addition he’s been well known, for decades, for his volatile temper and that is not the type of person we need in the White House. Or, near the ‘red button’ for that matter.

His running mate? Caribou Barbie? She’s nothing like me.

You go girl!

1) People who are eligible to vote but could not be bothered to register.

2) Registered voters who could not be bothered to vote.

3) People who vote for the candidate who looks good in a suit.

In the book “Starship Troopers” (the movie was dog crap) one had to serve before being allowed to vote or go into politics. I’m starting to think about that a lot lately.

I scared a few of my own readers in private email exchange telling them that this would probably be the first time I would not vote in an election since age 18. Naturally, in the end, my good citizenship would not allow me to stay at home. But I certainly appreciate your post to keep my emotional pendulum from swinging so wildly.

There was an appropriate cartoon in the paper the other day. It was a father reading a bedtime story to a child. It said something like, “Some place in America, far away from the Beltway….” Yes, America has some very good people. And nurses, represent the best America has to offer! smile

Tammy

I’m excited about this! Who else is with me?

It most certainly IS time to vote! Everyone should be aware that the voter registration deadline is just around the corner — for most states, it’s October 6th, with a few states ending a few days earlier. An easy place to register is on our site, at http://healthcareunited.org/action/register

Best,
Brad