Why vote today?
We're voting on this day because the crops are finally harvested! (it's November, you see). We're voting today because it's the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. See, we need to travel to get to the polls, and since we can't travel on Sunday (god and all that), we must travel on Monday and vote on Tuesday. And we have to make sure we don't vote on November 1 because that would be All Saint's Day, which interferes with the Catholic faith. Plus the 1st of the month is a day for bookkeeping for shop owners. So it's today.
Why vote today?
Because from our earliest years of shouting "mommy, watch this, watch ME!!" Hey, hey, hear ME on this!", we have an inate desire to be heard, to have a voice. Because if you don't participate then you have no right to make me listen to you complain when things aren't going the way you'd like.
Why vote today?
Because we have had nearly 3000 (THREE THOUSAND) young boys and girls killed in Iraq since we invaded that country. That's more than were killed in 9/11, by the way.
Because more than 20,000 of them have been wounded. These include young people (average age of about 23) who are facing a future much different than the one of their childhood dreams. They are now going to live the rest of their lives after having been burned beyond recognition or having legs and arms blown off their bodies or after shrapnel has taken out their eyes and mangled their bodies. Here's a comment from Salon on the wounded soldiers.
So I vote today because people that we elect to represent us make the decisions that have resulted in these dead and wounded young people. Over 20,000. That is a very large number. It's a town. Think carefully about whether the purpose behind the invasion justifies these lost and changed lives. These are not invisible people. They could be my children.
Why vote today?
Because my state would like to consitutionalize bigotry. Although it is already illegal for gay or lesbian marriages here, apparently, "they" would like to change our constitution to cement our bigotry. My daughter keeps asking me why anyone else cares if two women love each other enough to get married. How does any other marriage affect my own? Why does anyone care? The only answers that make sense to me are fear and/or bigotry. So I vote today to raise my hand and cry out "Hey! Hey! Hear ME on this!!"
1 comment:
Hear, hear! Let me know how your election comes out. I could never figure out why same-sex marriage between two caring partners is such a concern when any heterosexual couple can get drunk and get married in Las Vegas in nothing flat. Which union degrades the institution of marriage more? If you want to outlaw something....that's what I'd vote for!
Post a Comment