Current mood:	calm
Entry tags:	politics, voting

Post-Election Election Post
I am out of steam. Run down and down and out. Kaput. After throwing a tantrum on the topic of politics, on-line and in life, for the last 2+ years...it all seems like a waste of my efforts and breath.

Yesterday, I voted. For whom really is of no consequence. My wife voted also...for the first time around 12 yrs. It can occasionally be a topic of contention for the two of us...we share wildly different realizations of essentially the same political ideologies.

We went into the polls on our way to drop our daughter off at pre-school. There are many times when her precocious, inquisitive nature can drive me nuts, but other times it draws me back to earth. Here's an excerpt from the conversation:

Her: "Why are we at THIS school?"(Our polling place is at my old high school)
Me: "Mom and Dad are going to vote."
Her: "Why?"(This is a common question, and generally allows me an opportunity to ramble in hope that some of the information sticks)
Me: "Well...the system of government in our country is a democratic republic. Citizens elect officials to represent their interests by popular vote. Those people are supposed to vote for the things which we care about."
Her: "I'm gonna vote, too!"
Me: "You have to be an adult to vote."
Her: "Maybe when I'm an adult, I'll vote so everybody can watch kid's shows on TV..."(Another point of contention in the house: how much Spongebob, Kipper, or Callilou is permissable to the adult brain?)

In essence...this is what people DO vote for. Really mundane things, with no real practical reasoning behind them...just "I want, I want, I want." There is little discussion of what is justice and a lot of talk about making things nice for everybody...regardless of the price.

After demanding a paper ballot and filling it out, I got my sticker. My 4-yr old daughter got her sticker and so did my 1-yr old son. The mind of kids...fanfare and ceremony, pomp and circumstance. And then 3 hours later, it was all forgot. She remembered that we had voted, that there was some certain amount of gravity to the process, and then it was over. She went on with living her life, with just as much independence and assertiveness she had lived it the day prior. It really made me realize how childish I can be on certain topics...