I didn't vote in the presidential election. Yes, I know, I should be ashamed of myself. I like to say it was because I didn't apply for my absentee ballot on time, but that was only because I was too apathetic to look up the deadline. And so I sat out on my first election since turning eighteen.
If I could have voted when I was ten, I would have been a Democrat. I soaked in the videos they showed at school, the ones that exhorted us to write our senator and tell him to save the otters or ozone or oceans. I read books where the heroine struggles against a patriarchy which wants to keep her from becoming a knight/mage/writer just because she's a girl, and I felt awful outrage on her behalf. My mission, then, was to take down the Man.
By thirteen, I had morphed into a staunch Republican. I read conservative blogs obsessively. My favorite were social-conservative posts detailing the outrageous liberal offenses of NOW or NEA or a whole host of other acronyms.
And then, when I was finally old enough to actually participate in the political process, the thought of voting for either Obama or McCain made me feel a little annoyed, a little queasy, and a lot tired. I couldn't even tell which was the lesser of two evils. I sort of wish I'd voted Libertarian, but I haven't lost sleep over it.
I think my partisanship died along with my love of being offended. I haven't felt righteous indignation in years. Nowadays my list of Things You Should Never Do When Angry includes posting anything anywhere on the Internet, ever, and voting.
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Stella, i did the same thing - i didn't vote. EVERYONE tells me that i'm basically a horrible person, but it came down to one thing - i didn't know who to vote for. I have always disliked politics and government (i am much more of a science/math person), and never really cared to learn. I AM proud of myself, though, because i studied for this election. i had friends who were staunch republicans, and ones who were staunch democrats. i knew what the candidates stood for, and the controversies around each. yet, still, i didn't want to vote for either. so i didn't. does this take away my freedom? no. does it make me less of a citizen, or prove i don't like my country? no. Does it show that i don't appreciate those that have given me the chance to vote? definitely not. does it show that i'm lazy and afraid of choosing wrong? most definitely. and i hopefully will learn to change this mindset in the next four years.
ReplyDeleteI voted for the Socialist Worker Party Candidate. I couldn't vote for either in good conscience but I wanted to show my country that I care about my poor proletariat friends, so I voted Socialist.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a nice story if it were true. I really just voted for them to say that I did.