Monday, February 4, 2008

Super Tuesday

This Tuesday, February 5th, is Super Tuesday here in not-so-sunny California. This basically means that California is one of 24 states holding its Presidential Primaries or Caususes or Calluses or whatever they care to call them tomorrow, helping to determine which propositions and candidates will be on the November ballot.

Now, as I may have mentioned here a time or two in the past, I'm not by nature a particularly political creature. For many years, I assumed, like so many others out there have, that the American political process was getting along just fine without me mucking about with it, so I did my best to stay out of its way. These past seven years, however, have changed that opinion in me. God, have they ever.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, arguably one of the most brilliant men ever to hold the highest office in this land, once famously said, "People ultimately get precisely the form of government they deserve." If so, what does that say about us and our country at this moment in time? Of course, Jefferson also said, "Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny." So perhaps he's answered that question for us.

I am a proud Liberal Democrat, and expect to be one for the rest of my life. I have no idea what any of your political leanings are, Gentle Readers, nor frankly do I care. What matters to me is that, should you happen to live in one of those 24 aforementioned states, you get off your shiny duff some time on Tuesday, and go vote. I honestly don't care if your vote cancels out mine, line by line, item by item. That's part of what makes this process so wonderful. In the end, assuming those tyrants don't mess with the electronic voting machines again, the majority vote will rule.

Which is as it should be.

When I first heard about Super Tuesday, comic book geek that I am, I hoped it was a day to celebrate superheroes. And, perhaps, in a way, it is. Here's your chance to become a real American hero, my friends.

All you have to do is vote.

1 comment:

Roger Owen Green said...

Of course, the voting rules vary from state to state. AR and GA have open primaries. NY and CT let only Reps and Dems votes. Independents in CA can vote in the DEM primary, but not the REP.
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