Category — Politics

It’s over. Months and months of campaigning, canvassing, primaries, results and poll watching, news reading, complaints, negativity, excitement, and apathy (from some) – and we’ve now finally elected our next president. I, for one, am very excited. I know, however, that a lot of people feel quite the opposite.

This election has been kind of eye-opening to me. It’s revealed some things about myself as well as the people I know or have known over the years. And I never thought online social networking would be the tool to reveal these things, but it has.

I’ve made it very obvious that I have supported Obama for quite a while, I believe. So have some of my friends. I guess I should consider myself lucky, though – I’ve never gotten quite the rude messages that they have, at least not directly to me. One of them received a very huffy comment telling him that he’d “sold his soul for a black president” and that America would now be run by “a man who delights in murdering babies”. Oh, and apparently the values are gone in America and Obama as president is God’s judgment upon us. Wow – are you for real?

I’ve seen several comments about Obama being a “baby killer”. To me – it’s difficult to understand… ok wait, I take that back – it’s not difficult to understand, it’s just SAD to me that someone can be so set on thinking that their way is the only way and that they are so very RIGHT in how they see the world that they would resort to childish name-calling. I’ve also seen people be so very negative about the government that they can’t even find a single positive thing to say about it. So instead they choose to consistently voice their negativity. Ok, I get that’s how you see things, and you’re entitled to that. But I’d rather choose to look for the positive and maybe have some hope.

Yes, I support Obama. Yes, I voted for him. And I actually took some time beforehand to learn a little bit about the man that was receiving my vote for the highest office in the nation. You see – to me a vote is a very important thing, not something I give away lightly. Another thing that’s surprised me during the election process is how little it means to some people, especially considering how hard some people groups have worked to obtain this privilege. I heard people complain on election day that they wished it wasn’t election day so they didn’t have to get out of bed to go vote. I’ve heard countless people talk about how sick they are of hearing about the election. And I’ve talked to people that just “hate politics” and voting was barely more than one more chore in their day. You know – I’ll admit, I got sick of hearing about it too. So I CAN’T IMAGINE how sick of all of it John McCain or Barack Obama must be.

I used to think that everyone should go vote. It’s a privilege that we’re lucky to have, so you should go take advantage of it, basically just because. I no longer feel that way. If you don’t care, if you know pretty much nothing about the candidates, or if you’re just voting because everyone says it’s important, DON’T. Please, don’t even take part in the election process. Leave it to the people that do care, that are informed.

And even though Obama was the candidate I chose to vote for and support – I have nothing against John McCain or Hillary Clinton or even Sarah Palin. I believe John McCain is a very intelligent man that would’ve done a decent job of leading our country. I think Hillary Clinton is a very powerful woman that also would’ve done a sufficient job. I think Sarah Palin is also an intelligent woman who was chosen for a position that she wasn’t quite prepared enough for, but could be in a few years. If any of the other candidates had won, I have no doubt that they would’ve served our country as best they could.

So yes – it’s all finally over. But in other ways – it’s just begun.

I’ll probably be blogging about the election soon, but for now – here’s a pretty cool map from Google of election results by state. For detailed info about each state (like a county breakdown) – click on the state. Note that Indiana is blue – for the first time in over 40 years. Woohoo!

Yesterday was a big day here in Indiana. For the first time in a really long time, people came out in droves and voted in a primary election. This is the one opportunity we had to really make our votes count. Whether you voted on a Democrat or Republican ballot, whether you voted for Clinton, Obama, McCain, Paul, or someone else – your vote still counted. You can tell yourself “I’m only one vote, what difference does it make?” or “I voted for Ron Paul, he won’t win anyway.” – but the truth is that if all the people that think that would go vote anyway – you just might make a difference.

Here’s my example. I’m just one vote, right? But I’m a very passionate vote. I’m a declared Barack Obama supporter. Everyone around me knows it. I’ve talked about it, and I’ve talked about why I think what I do. And on top of that, I’ve gone out and knocked on doors to talk to people about it. I took a vacation day from work to talk to people about it. And I know, for a fact, that my vote – because I’ve been so passionate about it – has influenced at least a minimum of 4 other people to vote for the candidate that I support. Those are just 4 people that I can specifically name. I have no doubts that I’ve influenced more than that.

I did take yesterday, primary day here, off of work to volunteer for the Obama campaign. I spent the morning out by myself in a neighborhood of big, expensive houses knocking on doors and encouraging people to go vote. I left information for those not at home about where to go vote. I spent the afternoon painting a huge “OBAMA” sign that I helped hold up at a corner by a local high school/polling location and on an overpass over a very busy interstate. And I got a sunburn from all that time spent outside – but I had an absolute blast and enjoyed every second of it. I wouldn’t do a single thing differently, either yesterday or on any of the time I’ve spent on the Obama campaign.

I can’t even say I’m really too disappointed that Obama “lost” Indiana. Hillary was predicted to win it, and since we’re not an “all or nothing” delegate state, the delegates were split almost evenly. So for yesterday – my candidate still came out ahead overall. And what I’m really proud and excited about – is that Hamilton County – my county – voted for Obama at a percentage of 61 to 39. I know that that’s due in no uncertain terms at least partially to passionate voters like myself and the amazing people I’ve worked with over the last few days and weeks. People that have believed in something so much that they are willing to devote their time and energy to doing their absolute best to make sure that it happens. People whose enthusiasm and commitment shows through enough to make the people around them reflect on what exactly it is that makes them care so much, enough to turn a vote or cause someone to visit the polls that originally wouldn’t have.

Why should I be disappointed? I had fun, met some awesome people and built relationships that I already had, and saw evidence that I made a difference. You know why I decided to become actively involved in the Obama campaign? I mean, it’s one thing to say you support a particular candidate – it’s quite another to get so actively involved in their campaign, right? Honestly – it almost came down to “why not?” I decided I thought Obama would make a great next president, so why shouldn’t I work to get him there? If nothing else, I know I’m contributing to history being made, and I’ll never look back on it with regret.