Election Day

Today is election day in the United States of America, and I encourage all Americans to get out and fulfill their duty to cast their votes.

Regardless of your political views, I respect your right to vote. The whole democracy would work better if more people voted. In this country, for some reason, people have abdicated their voting rights, and thus we cannot achieve our fullest potential.

I am sick of politics (I used to love it, but it is just so damn ugly!). Both leading political parties are so focused on their own desires for power that they have forgotten the greater good of what they can accomplish in Washington DC.

Additionally the divide between those on the "right" and "left" has become so un-civil, that the mention of politics in a social setting is taboo. People in America have lost the ability to listen to opposing view points without becoming crazy.

I asked a democrat friend about his thoughts on the close House and Senate races currently going on around the country, which could change the balance of power in Washington. He was EXTREMELY excited about the democrats winning (like a kid at Christmas). He seemed to honestly think that all of the problems on earth would vanish if his party was in charge. Sadly, controversial problems will always exist no matter who is running congress or the White House.

He also had some nasty words to say about the president and what he called "stupid Joe 6-pack" (whom I think was his way of describing the average person who lives somewhere he does not live, think John Kerry's comments last week!). He had a lot of hate and negativity in his voice when he talked politics.

On the flip side I talked to a very conservative republican friend. He was nervous about the congressional balance of power and had equally nasty words to say about those with views to the left of his own (for fun I mentioned Hillary Rodham Clinton, which always makes him nuts!). He, too, was crystal clear that his party was best.

This is the problem. Everyone thinks they are personally so much smarter than everyone else on the planet. The left sees the right as dumb and brainwashed .... and the right sees the left as elitist and misguided. But life in the world today is not black and white. Political issues are lost in the gray. How folks are so sure of themselves amazes me. I know that I do not know all the answers when it comes to politics!

I would hope that people could embrace conflicting ideologies and respect the people who hold them as having the right to believe them. Civil discussions on the issues without hate and name calling would be better for everyone. Yet I know this is just a dream.

Regardless of how you want today to turn out at the polls, I hope you will go and vote!!!

Happy Election Day.

Thom Singer
www.thomsinger.com
thom@thomsinger.com