Hopefully you voted today...KNOCK ON WOOD that lots of people did. If you ever thought your vote didn't count, this election is the one where you will see your vote hard at work.
Virtually all the states had propositions ranging from Gay Marriage and Domestic Benefits, to legalization of Marijuna (while further criminalizing smoking, by the way) and because the Supreme Court voiced its opinion on eminent domain - lots of states had propositions on that issue....its truly an exciting time to be voting. Honest to GOD, I say that without a twinge of irony...this is the stuff of our day-to-day lives, people..it is why your vote counts...and making your vote count 20X over is why it is so important to vote your beliefs for House and Senate representatives. I hate to get on my soap box, but honest to god, when you wear your "I voted" sticker and people say "Oh?! Was there an election today?" It really makes you want to just poke yourself in the neck with an extremely sharp object.
Arizona had some highlights: we voted on a proposition that would entitle all people who vote to participate in a 1Million Dollar Lottery. Its an effort to get people to the polls. I don't really think it will increase voter participation...after all, voting really isn't any harder than buying a lottery ticket, and people STILL don't. In Arizona, we can vote early, by mail-in ballot and we register when we renew our car registration...and people STILL don't vote. Consequently, since I vote for every election in which I am eligible, I voted for it - I'm thinking I might just be a millionaire in my life yet. My odds are WAY better there than at my local convienence store. As for the argument....I know...stupid voters do none of us any good...but I'm still betting that uneducated voters are too lazy to vote. Keep your fingers crossed for me and my million bucks...my next investment step is to go on "Deal or No Deal"...
We also elected a Democrat Governor again. I mean after a couple of Republican crooks, a governor more concerned with balancing her hair-do than the budgte and one who was actually IMPEACHED, we decided to stick once again with this lady-who looks like she might be able to beat the Cardinals at their own game - who balanced our budget and made education a priority (AZ is right up there with Alabama in terms of education), our leader for 4 more years...it didn't make the news where you live because we all knew that even if she got hit by a bus she STILL would have beat "Len "What's His Name" Munsil".
The most disapointing thing about election in AZ this year was two things: the particularly nasty nature of some of the propositions (hateful and anti-choice), and the especially nasty campaigning (thanks to our incumbents in the Senate (Kyl) and the House (Hayworth) who were apparently feeling the heat. I was also personally disappointed the Senator McCain, who I have greatly admired, bowed to right-wing nuts and endorsed the prop against Domestic Benefits. I can forgive him for endorsing Kyl - I mean, after all, he is considered the front runner for the Republican nominee in '08 - and really, he has to stroke the Republicans until then...but a local prop and a hateful, short-sited one at that...I was personally exceptionally disappointed. I'm a little bummed at how much he is bending under the pressure of right-wingers to get the nomination...I mean, we loved him because he was a MAVERICK. A HERO (military and political). Can we get that McCain back for the next couple of years?
Anyway - Thank local Arizonan Steve Benson's commentary on voting for today's entertaining cartoon. I don't always agree with our local Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, but I agree with him here.
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