The First Political Cycle to Inspire Me
I am drinking the free coffee that Starbucks gave me because I told them I voted. I did not have an "I voted" sticker to show the Starbucks cashier, because the polling place ran out; the election workers said no one expected a turnout of four hundred people! The line at the polling station stretched through the parking lot.
There are two main kind of empty gesture votes: to pat yourself on the back, or to feel like you have a voice. Referencing martyrs is a common form of passive-aggressive manipulation. Telling others to make their voice heard when their voice is far too radical for anyone to listen, just because someone sacrificed so they could do so, is like Jewish parents telling their kids they have to stay Jewish "or Hitler has won." People made sacrifices so you could have a choice of whether to do something, and a choice always involves a minimum of two options. I never asked martyrs to saddle me with responsibilities that don't matter to me, or a stake in a group to which I don't feel I belong.
Now I do feel like I belong.
I voted because I care about the issues on today's ballot. I voted in favor of Barack Obama, stem cell research (Michigan Proposal 2), and medical marijuana (Michigan Proposal 1). I voted for the "reality-based community" of science. The mere presence of these three oval slots on the ballot seem science fictional to me, and as I filled them in with black ink, I reeled with a rush of vertigo and future shock. I used to wonder at the plausibility of movies and television shows depicting black presidents who rose from a disadvantaged background to be the leader of the free world. What seemed impossible really is possible.
It is the first political cycle to inspire me.
In 1996 I was a fundamentalist Christian. I debated whether to hold my nose and vote for Dole to vote against Clinton. Instead I wrote in a vote for the U.S. Taxpayer's Party, whose materials used the word "abortuary" and promised to prosecute women and doctors for murder.
In 2000 I was far more disillusioned and apathetic, but I voted for Bush because I still assumed a supernatural being who was infinite in all perfections had ordered me to stop women murdering their children. It didn't make much sense to me any more, but supposedly that was because I was a worm who was stupid and sinful, so I did as I was told.
In 2004 I voted punitively against Bush, even though I was pretty sure I was going to despise the Kerry administration's business as usual in Washington.
I filled in the ovals today realizing just how far my nation had come, but more importantly, just how far I had come. At the age of thirty-four I felt for the first time like this is a country to which I belong. Even if we lose, I have a place on the ballot that I didn't write in. I actually started crying in the voting booth.
Comments
star-gazersusan on Nov. 4, 2008 6:21 PM
I too voted for the Stem Cell Research and Medical Marjuana. I also voted for Obama - but them I voted Democratic partison across the board.
dnance02 on Nov. 4, 2008 6:40 PM
Apparently, Statbucks (or any franchise for that matter), risks litigation for offering free goods to voters as they might be a violation of election laws. See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110401899.html?hpid=topnews
Instead, it appears as if these places are offering the free goods to anyone. Defeats the purpose of incouraging people to get out and vote. :/ Personally, I don't see how it's a bride if it's only available after, and no matter what way, you've voted.
Obama, Prop 1 & 2, and in favor of milages to support the local community college my wife and I attend (Washtenaw) and the roads we drive on.
Over 100 people voted before me and I got in line at 7am!
aiela on Nov. 4, 2008 6:59 PM
Thank you for sharing this. It was really moving. I'm glad that you're happy with the person you've become.
zifferent on Nov. 4, 2008 9:09 PM
Interesting. I've been curious about your post-deistic transition.
Oh and Obama, Yes to both proposals, and Third Party candidates(Green and Libertarian) to all the seats that I didn't care about.
matt-arnold on Nov. 4, 2008 9:17 PM
Third Party candidates(Green and Libertarian) to all the seats that I didn't care about.
Me too. A Libertarian or Green candidate would wet themselves if they won a high-ranking position, but local ones are just fine. In fact, the more a party becomes strong on the local level, the more it will be a path to some measure of political success, as opposed to the dead-end it is now. If that happens, qualified politicians will join that party more often, when they finally believe the organization would have a snowball's chance to help their campaigns.
temujin9 on Nov. 4, 2008 9:33 PM
I had no idea you'd come to rationalism quite so recently, though in retrospect it explains your vociferousness well. Good to have you on the side of the angels, as it were.
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