On the subject of Voting...

Yesterday was our opportunity to vote in the Presidential Primary here in Connecticut.

I find voting to be quite an emotional experience. I've never been able to escape the polls without tearing up at the thought of what a privilege it is to be able to decide who runs my country. In this case, I even get a say in who's in the running to run the country! I think about the world...about places where people go their whole, long-suffering lives without ever having a choice; about people literally dying for rights like these.

And then I think about all the Americans who take this right for granted.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, only 64% of registered voters actually voted in the 2004 Presidential election. I suppose the good news is that 2004 was better than the 2000 election, when only 60% of registered voters participated.

I find this information infuriating and frustrating and disappointing to the extreme.

Yesterday, I was in the bathroom at my office. Two women were chatting at the sink. One asked the other if she was going to vote. The woman replied with a bunch of excuses: she wasn't sure if she'd ever rememberd to re-register in her new resident town, she was busy, she wasn't sure if the polls were open late enough for her to make it on her way home from work. And then she said, "I mean, it's only a primary. If it were a real election, I'd make a point to go."

I'm quite sure if I hadn't been behind a locked stall door and occupied with toilet paper, I'd have flown across the room and throttled her.

The primary *is* a real election. In fact, it's the only chance you get to exercise one of the strongest powers you have as a citizen -- the power to make your voice heard in the preliminary choice for President. Aside from the power of consumer spending, it's one of the few true powers everyday citizens have.

Please, everyone. Please utilize this privilege and vote. If the primary hasn't yet hit your state, make sure you know when it's coming and are prepared to vote -- with an informed choice -- that day. And please, please be ready to vote in the Presidential election. If you're not American, please know how and when and where you can make your political choices heard in your own country. This stuff is important!!! More important than Starbucks or LiveJournal or prime time TV or pedicures or haircuts or any of those other things we all make time for in our busy schedules without a second thought.

*steps off of soap box*