Presidential Consolation

A few months ago when I met President Abraham Lincoln at South Bound Brook's Staats House, the current presidential race was very much on my mind. Discussing the dirty politicking going on, I told President Lincoln that I feared for our country.

He said not to worry, that it was always that way - even in his day.

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After weeks of stories about the millions of new voters, the number of citizens expected at the polls, and the potential for voting machine problems, I didn't know what to expect. Television news stories showed lines of voters extending for blocks at numerous polling places around the country. People told about long waits.

After all this anticipation, voting today was a real letdown. No parking problem. There was one person in front of me in line and two behind me. I voted. I left.

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"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts." - Abraham Lincoln

I Voted Today...

I voted today, of course.

In my home, growing up, voting was considered a responsibility of citizenship and an honor. We were Americans - some naturalized and some by birth - and it was something that all good Americans did.

We understood that another American right was the privacy of each voter’s choice. Although upcoming elections were discussed, we didn’t have to tell anyone how we had voted including other family members and I can’t ever remember them asking me how I had voted. To this day I don’t know how my parents were registered to vote although I strongly suspect they were independents – maybe just because in America they could.

They also made sure that we were aware that there were still people in other countries who were still fighting for the rights that so many Americans inexplicably took for granted.

I went to vote today, but I have to admit that it’s getting harder to feel like it makes any difference.

And that makes me sad.

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“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves—and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945

Silly Signs of the Season

Just in case you haven’t noticed, elections are coming up in just over a month. The signs are everywhere – and I don’t mean signs as in “symbolic evidence,” but real signs. Those irritating cardboard “Vote for Me” miniature billboards that spring up everywhere and reproduce faster than cockroaches.

In the last few years they have become so intrusive and numerous that they are irritating the voters – not the effect the candidates want.

What is this proliferation of signs saying to the voters?

* This candidate has way too much money to spend.
* This candidate has no regard for the appearance of my town.
* This candidate is not discriminating.
* This candidate is wasting his own money and, therefore, will have no problem wasting mine.
* This candidate is very insecure.
* This candidate feels the voters are incredibly stupid and will forget his name if they don’t see it every ten feet.

Well, this voter will remember that candidate’s name when pulling the levers (or pressing the lights) in the voting booth. And that candidate won’t like the results.

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Another thing guaranteed to annoy the voters is the automated “Vote For Me” telephone calls or, even worse, the “Don’t vote for my opponent” calls or “Don’t vote for the other party” calls. Unfortunately those “Do Not Call” lists don’t apply to political advertising.

I did receive one call asking for my vote several years ago that I liked so much that I actually voted for the candidate based only on that call. It was a lady running for the Board of Education who made an in-person call asking for my vote. Her pitch went something like this:

“Hi, my name is [Jane Doe] and I am running for the Board of Education and I would really appreciate your vote. I hope that I am not disturbing you and thank you for your time. Do you have any questions that you would like to ask me?”

Despite being stunned by the politeness and personal touch of the entire call, I recovered enough to ask a question about her stand on one item, which she politely answered. But her answer didn’t even matter at that point. She already had my vote.