You should vote

You should vote

I woke up thinking this morning about people who are telling others not to vote.

I get the strategy of telling the other side not to vote. But why tell your own side not to vote? This baffles me and I’ve been thinking about it for several days.

I voted for the first time in 2016. I never voted before that. Ever. I didn’t want to, I didn’t care who got into office because I never felt “danger” about anyone before. I was never involved with politics. It didn’t matter to me what party got in. It just wasn’t on my radar to any great extent and I didn’t pay attention. It was what it was.

I also bought into the “your vote doesn’t really count” hype. Shame on me.

I remember a conversation I had with someone 20 or 30 years ago who gave me a HUGE dressing down about not voting, told me I didn’t have a say because I didn’t vote and whatever happened was my fault because I didn’t vote, and that by not voting, I was voting for the other guy. I thought that I was exercising my right NOT to vote, and what they said then made no sense to me.

I didn’t understand this until 2016.

So when the 2016 presidential election rolled around and Trump, along 3 or 4 others that I couldn’t deal with decided to run, I made the decision to register to vote.

At the time, I was a news junkie and listened to nearly everyone on the news and definitely had a grasp on who I liked and who I didn’t like. Had any one of the 12 people been elected, I would have been fine. I may not have liked their policies, and may not have agreed with them, but damnit, I wouldn’t be worrying about them trying to take down the country at the American people’s expense.

But as it was getting down to the wire, the candidates who were actually qualified to run the country on the Republican side were dropping out – and I can’t help but wonder if they were paid to do so- it became obvious that everyone needed to vote. Listening to a couple of rallies helped immensely. So I registered. It’s up to us to hire the qualified candidate – like them or not.

No candidate is ever perfect – they’re human. But it is up to us as voters to vote the most qualified in. Would you hire the least qualified person you could find to run your business? No, you wouldn’t. You would research, compare, research and compare some more. Who will do the best job for everyone? Then you hire the best candidate for the position.

Elections aren’t about you, they’re about all of us. If you don’t vote for the most qualified person, you’re not going to get the best candidate.

My parents were Republicans but they didn’t always vote Republican – if they liked a Democrat better, they voted for the Democrat. It’s what you did. None of this tribal bs happening now. It was about whatever was best for the country, and that’s how it should be.

So yea. Get out there and vote. Will your vote really count? I have no idea. But one thing it will do: it will help counteract the voter suppression and other outside interferences we keep hearing about.

What were politics like in 1972? No idea, but here are Cass Elliot and John Denver telling us to vote:

https://youtu.be/NKdknYaSHgE