Today is election day in the nation's capitol and for a place that's not even a state, and only gets 3 electoral votes we get pretty darn excited for election day! Perhaps it has to do with the fact that a whole lot of jobs are affected by the outcome - and I'm not referring to the presidential candidate's personal plans for the economy.
No matter what side you are on, if you live in Washington D.C. or the surrounding areas you are tuned into the election - whether you want to or not. You can't go to a bar without hearing about it, it's everywhere you go - the tv, the radio, newspaper, signs, metro, buses, anywhere there are people, there will be political discussions. (Fun fact: my coworker escaped to a secluded cottage for the alst 5 days to escape the election) I'm getting to the point that I'm dying to see commercials for Clorox wipes, anything to stop hearing about George Allen, Tim Kaine, and question 7 - all of which are VA or MD issues that I can't vote on anyway.
I've always been pretty moderate - politically speaking so for someone like me, who researches their candidates and doesn't look solely at the letter after their name, I'm really ready for the constant facebook rants and blind support of a party that the horse race campaign endorses to stop.
In fact my favorite campaign has been the "Vote Then Bitch": The Campaign to get complainers to the polls, an article that was written up by The Atlantic, although the real website is here. It encompasses the idea that if you are able to vote and you don't then you have to shut up for the next 2-4 years, which I think is an excellent point, and it's a point I've been trying to push on people for the last few years, although this site has way better signs then I could ever create. I don't care who you vote for, as long as you get out there and vote. Our country is blessed to be able to vote in our elections yet we have a surprisingly low number of people who actually exercise that right.
My father served in the armed forces and therefore the right to vote and the act of voting was very strong in my house. My parents never revealed who they voted for (overtime it became a bit easier to guess) but the fact that my parents voted in every election meant that they could complain at the dinner table, it wasn't only their right but their duty - and I encourage all of you to take voting as seriously as they do.
