Rockin’ the Vote

Just got back from the polls.  We’re enjoying a heat wave here along the American Riviera, a regular July in November—or maybe August, when you think it registered 94F yesterday, so it was a perfect day to stroll down & toss in my 2 cents. I would have voted if I had to walk the proverbial 10 miles in a snowstorm, though. It’s that important. I was a little bummed to miss neighbor lady Betty overseeing the show, but more concerned with an idle conversation I had with a produce clerk in the course of shopping for groceries this weekend.

Since we enjoy a nodding acquaintance, I boldly asked him how he planned to vote on Prop #37, hoping to have a lively discourse about the pros and cons of Monsanto’s Franken-Food, only to find he had no idea what I was referencing. He tried, bless his heart, but just wasn’t sure, and while there are many pros and cons to social networks & Internet communities as a whole, one thing is sure. Those that network have a heightened awareness of important issues, both global & national, that those offline do not. Sure, there’s propaganda, and sure there’s huge gaps in available information at any given site, but an intelligent person can educate him or herself as to the truth of the matter.

And the truth of the matter is this. If you don’t inform yourself, you can’t vote intelligently. If you don’t vote, you can’t make a difference. If you don’t try to make a difference, you certainly don’t have room to bitch, so go rock it, America. There’s plenty of time to get to the polls, and remember. You can & should leave selections unmarked on issues on which you’re not informed. For example, I had no position on a local sanitation measure, and so I skipped that vote. Not optimum, but better than being an ass, by pinning a tail blindly…Or, God forbid, electing Romney.