Saturday
June 29, 2024 
Okay, America, here we are. This coming Tuesday is Election Day.
Now, many of us have already voted for various reasons including the virus. Facbook recently reminded me that the virus can’t tell the difference between a voting line and a grocery line and, in case, like me, anyone doesn’t get that irony right away, I’ll share: It’s a sarcasm for the fact that we wait in line at the grocery store, why can’t we wait in line for the voting booth? Why do we need the mail-in ballots?
The facts show a historic number of Americans are voting while the number of voting sites has been pared down. This creates a unique situation, a double whammy of sorts, as greater crowds are slowed by fewer voting locations. That’s really why more Americans than ever are choosing off-site and mail-in options and early voting.
These factors have encouraged more voters than ever to take advantage of them … oh and, yes, these alternatives also do prevent voters from standing on those enhanced lines in a pandemic – which brings us back to the grocery line.
We all know that standing in a line at the market for even as long as 20 minutes, start to finish, is a generous estimate, but let’s allot a half hour. That is still very little and not a fair comparison to standing on a voting line for as long as nine hours. Though nine hours is certainly not the average, it is real and waits of many hours are occurring around the country, and the wait is unknown until voters get to their voting location. These unusual factors have inspired the large use of alternatives. The record number of voters has also been inspired by the rather contentious election this is.
Regardless of how we do it, voting has us excited, agitated, hopeful, or depressed. We’re doing it out of sheer habit, anger or even spite. Despite all this, and despite any futility any of us may feel about voting, we’re doing it in droves and that’s great because it shouldn’t be skipped.
As far as our party goes, no candidate’s agenda is totally public. Sure, they present some agenda to us, but their real intentions will vary from it. Regardless, we know they can’t deliver exactly what we’re promised, even if they want to. That may be because of the checks and balances of our government (more like roadblocks) or ulterior motives bent toward an inner circle.
Still, if we paid attention and were resourceful, we can be hopeful about what will happen if the House and Senate render prudent support for prudent measures. It was all intended to create balance. Unfortunately, it often leans toward the ridiculous as it has created more a tug of war – a spitting contest – than balance. Still, it is all we’ve got right now, so we’ll go with it on that sad understanding.
Making every vote count is definitely key, even if the candidates we have to vote for aren’t exactly whom, or what, we’d want.
Our best shot to garner the performance we want from our government and the leaders we put in charge of it is to familiarize ourselves with their policies. That’s not the edited version of their words which we see out of context in their opponent’s ads. It’s not the empty promises they make in front of crowds to garner a loud response or a chuckle. It’s the policies their history in leadership discloses and their behavior displays. They are what their work shows in their policies fulfilled, not orated. It’s not them promising to deliver, but them delivering on their promises. Often, Congress stonewalls them. We must use our votes to fix that too.
If we think one candidate’s promises will dig into our pockets too deeply or if we are unsure, research. Government sites are the best answer; everything can be documented.
Vote.
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