Good luck, America.
Nov. 4th, 2008 06:50 amThis is the obligatory plug for democracy.
If you are American and you have a vote, use it. That right has been bought and paid for, in lives, for hundreds of years, and is still bought and paid for today by other citizens around the world.
It's no secret who I hope wins, but that's less important today than just getting out and voting. Pay the poll tax of the long lineup. Take a camp chair and a book or some knitting. But vote.
And once your vote has been counted and your government changed, start the political process that will force your state's election machine to address those long line-ups. Every year, I have parents tell me they can't afford to take time off work to come to a parent-teacher interview. Parents who tell me that are being disenfranchised by lineups hours long. That's a poll tax, and it's unconscionable. And as a Canadian who has never waited more than five minutes to vote, I can tell you - it doesn't have to be that way.
If you are American and you have a vote, use it. That right has been bought and paid for, in lives, for hundreds of years, and is still bought and paid for today by other citizens around the world.
It's no secret who I hope wins, but that's less important today than just getting out and voting. Pay the poll tax of the long lineup. Take a camp chair and a book or some knitting. But vote.
And once your vote has been counted and your government changed, start the political process that will force your state's election machine to address those long line-ups. Every year, I have parents tell me they can't afford to take time off work to come to a parent-teacher interview. Parents who tell me that are being disenfranchised by lineups hours long. That's a poll tax, and it's unconscionable. And as a Canadian who has never waited more than five minutes to vote, I can tell you - it doesn't have to be that way.