This is my first attempt at a diary, so be gentle.
This morning, I decided that I would not waste any more time and went down to the county board of elections to cast my ballot. Although I'm only 46 and in good health, I decided that I didn't want to take any chances. I figured just in case the ol' Grim Reaper decided come and collect my butt between now and the election, I wanted to make sure I did one more good thing for the country.
I've been voting since I turned 18 back in 1980 when I voted for Jimmy Carter. I take voting very seriously and for me, it is a solemn duty. As I travel to the polls, I always engage in a lot of reflection, today was no exception.
As I made my trip to the county board of elections, I thought of many things. I thought about the last eight years of destructuion wrought upon this country by BushCo and their band of thugs. I thought about how much we have lost in time, money, lives and in making progress on all the important things that need to be done for our country and our world.
I thought of the over 4,000 brave men and women who have died in a needless and unjustified war predicated upon a mountain of lies. And the tens upon tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis who have died for the same reasons. I thought about our troops who survived the war, but will have to live with the physical and mental scars for the rest of their lives. I thought of our veterans who can't get adequate medical care because we have a government ran by GOP cronies who love to pay lip service about how much they love the troops and our veterans and then use every tactic in the book to try and screw us.
I thought about the countless people who have fallen through the cracks these past eight years while the GOP practices socialism in reverse and redistrbutes our wealth ever upward into the hands of a smaller and smaller pool of people. I thought about those who have lost jobs to due outsourcing or going out of business. I thought about the miners who have died due to the dismantling of safety regulation to facilitate corporate greed.
I thought of our children, who are being denied a world class education because the GOP would rather teach a test, rather than instill knowledge. I thought about our failing schools that are suffering from a lack of money because many people would rather save a few bucks on their taxes, rather than invest in our future.
I thought about our standing in the world, where even our allies have lost confidence in our ability to be a force for good. I thought about the cowboy diplomacy that got us into this predicament. I thought about just how much work has to be done if we are to have a chance at saving ourselves and our planet from the destruction of pollution and climate change.
I thought about who was the person best suited to take on all these challenges. The choice was a no-brainer. Today, I cast the proudest vote I ever cast. Today, I voted for Barack Obama. I voted not out of fear or hopelessness or desparation. I voted for Obama, because I still have hope and I still believe in our grand, but imperfect, experiment. I voted for Obama because I still believe in America and that our country, while good, can be better.
I walked into the polling place, wearing my "Retired Air Force" ball cap and struck a small blow for taking our country back. As I pressed the "cast ballot" on the computer screen, I did what I have always done since my dad died in 2001, "I whispered, this one's for you too, dad". My dad cast his last vote in 2000 for Al Gore. Though he was sick and dying he walked a quarter mile to the schoolhouse, with his oxygen tank in tow. I couldn't have been more proud of him, though I'd preferred that he'd gotten a ride. Once I finished, I felt the greatest sense of peace and satistifaction I've felt in many years.