Election Day has come and gone.
There was quite a bit of talk surrounding this year's election, especially considering it's not a presidential election year. Though judging from the presidential campaign debates that seem to be on every other day, I could see how you'd think the presidential election had just taken place.
Quite a bit has changed since I voted in my first presidential election. It was the year 2000 and term limits were forcing my political hero, Bill Clinton, out of office. I had decided to keep the good times rolling by voting for Al Gore. Low and behold, Gore won! It was a close election, but it looked like Al had pulled it out.
Then something happened. Something that changed the way I looked at the world.
Gore, after winning the popular vote, lost.
I swore, after that bitter defeat, that I was never going to vote again. And I didn't.
Until 2004.
Another presidential campaign had come around and I wanted to elect anyone but George W. Bush.
But as a credit to Bush and his (or Cheney's) political savvy he beat another stuffy Democrat in John Kerry. (Side note: Do they make Democrats with charisma anymore?)
But another thing happened in 2004, the Washington State Gubernatorial race between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi. It was another close race reminiscent of the 2000 Presidential race. Gregoire ended-up the Governor of Washington State, winning by less than 200 votes. And I had again voted for the loser, Dino Rossi.
I was so disillusioned. Maybe it was because my candidate had lost both times. Perhaps it was because for the first time I realized how small I am in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it was because I had voted Republican for the first time in my life.
But I reacted to this "defeat" differently. I didn't take it sitting-down. I took it as a call to action.
I had always been a big talker about politics, but not much of a doer. I decided that if I was going to debate politics, I had to take part in the process. I had to vote.
So I rededicated myself to politics. Not just presidential politics, but local politics.
I realized that the local elections have a much greater effect on my everyday life. If I think Seattle has too many pot holes, there's nothing John Kerry or Al Gore would have done about it, I needed to look to the Mayor and City Council. When the voter's guide shows-up, I read it.
I now look at presidential-only voters as lazy. Americans are force-fed presidential coverage and it requires no real effort on their part.
But back to local politics.
The recent Proposition 1, the Roads and Transit proposal, was the barb in my bonnet this election season. I am not going to get into the nuts and bolts of it, but this proposition represented one of the single greatest tax increases ever laid before the public. The sales tax increases, for example, would affect me every day. So I had to vote.
For the record, I voted against Proposition 1. Not because I am against mass transit or think traffic in our region is fine. I simply thought the plan spent too much money and didn't do anything well. It was too big. You know the saying: A jack of all trades is a master of nothing? That is what this plan looked like to me.
But this Proposition was a perfect example of how important local politics are to the average American. And I still see far too many folks who complain, but are apathetic enough to take no action.
Now I am not advocating pitching-in on campaigns and standing on street corners holding signs. I am simply saying take 15 minutes to read a newspaper and get an idea of where you stand on ballot measures/candidates and take another 10 minutes to fill-out a ballot. If you have the time to complain, try to dedicate at least one rants-worth of time to educating yourself and taking action by voting. I think you may find that you feel a bit better about things…
And you just may elect someone who feels the same way you do.
PS- Here's a link to a great story in the P-I today by Robert Jamieson, Jr. It profiles a city council candidate and his encounters with Seattleites while campaigning. It exhibits some great examples of the "Seattle Nice" I talked about in a previous post.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/338778_robert08x.html
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