I am a Democrat, but I am also a realist.
What I said earlier sarcastically, I am now repeating in earnest: Republicans are going to clean our clocks today—rightly or wrongly, deservedly or undeservedly.
As most Americans, I have been thinking, talking, reading (and writing) about the elections today.
As most Democrats, I have been nervously viewing, listening to and reading about the tsunami that is supposed to hit us and wash us away today and, to be honest, I have been fuming at some of the gloating, in-your-face, told-you-so comments being bandied about by our Republican friends.
So, with the upcoming tsunami—the earthquake, the landslide, the hurricane and all those other nasty (un)natural phenomena—about to happen and wipe us out, why should I even bother to vote?
Of course this is a rhetorical question and of course I could recite numerous platitudes (not really) and clichés (not really) about why voting is so important and why every vote counts.
About how voting is not only a right, but also a civic duty, an obligation. An obligation to ourselves, to our fellow Americans, to our democracy, and to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so we can freely and unencumbered cast that vote, etc., etc.
About how a single vote may have elected—or defeated—a president, a governor, a congressman; may have admitted a state into the Union; may have changed the course of history, etc. (Please check with Snopes on such)
On the other side of the voting coin, we have all heard platitudes (yes, really) and clichés (yes, really) like “My vote won’t make a difference” or, as in this case, “What can my little Democratic vote accomplish faced with a tsunami of Republican votes?”
The fact is that your vote will make a difference: it will up the total vote by that all-important one and, in the big scheme of things, it will, along with the millions of other votes, help subdue that monstrous category 5 hurricane into a more manageable category 3 or 2 hurricane—and, believe me, you don’t want to mess with a category 5 hurricane.
But, perhaps most important at the personal level, voting will make you feel better. Really!
Take it from me, I just voted and I feel great:
* I did what I firmly believe is right.
* While I have patiently and not so patiently listened to the braggadocio of the “other side,” and written essays read by a dozen or so people, casting my vote—doing something that literally counts—was a cathartic experience for me. It suddenly lifted the stress and irritation I had been carrying for weeks.
* Perhaps most important, now that I have exercised my right to vote, I can exercise with a clear conscience another important right for the next two years: to complain about and criticize both the politicians and the political process.
Or, as I read somewhere, “I vote, therefore I bitch.”
Depending on where you live, you still have several hours to exercise your right to vote. You may not change the world, or the outcome, but you’ll certainly feel better and you will have those all-important “bitching rights.”
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.