An Election Result That I Feel Positive About

History Is Made!

Today History was made in the United States of America
and I was here to witness it
and participate in it.
Today the first Black (bi-racial) President of the United States
was elected - President Barack Obama.

This is truly a momentous achievement.
I am proud to be a citizen of a nation
that has reached the point
where a man is not judged
by the color of his skin.

I chose to not vote for this candidate,
but that was not because of his ethnicity
but because of his ethics, his experience,
and his political position
on some issues I feel strongly about.

On my morning walk a specific house
has caught my attention the past few weeks.
This house flies a replica of the original American flag -
13 stars arranged in a circle on a field of blue.
In the front yard of this house is an Obama '08 sign.
Every day as I walk past
I ponder how far
the United States of American has come
since the introduction of that first flag.
How much we have learned
about the equality of all men and women.

I am grateful for the progress we have made
as a nation where the issue of race is concerned.
I don't believe all of the changes that have occurred
in the United States of America since it's early days
have been positive ones,
but this is one that I am happy to be a part of.

Yes For Marriage!

Tonight the hubby,

the youngest son

and I

had the opportunity

to volunteer

and make phone calls

about Proposition 102.

There were several reasons

why I wasn't very excited

about doing this.

#1. I hate talking on the telephone.

I mean absolutely detest calling

even my very best friends and family.

I think this is very close to a phobia.

Talking on the phone scares me.

My most fear-filled memory of my mission

involves calling someone on the telephone.

Weird, I know.

#2. I hate it when people call me about political issues.

I will admit I usually just hang up

when I receive political calls.

#3. This is a controversial topic in Arizona right now.

I am not a controversial person

(although my husband may disagree

with that statement sometimes).

I don't like to argue with people

and even though I believe strongly in

the importance of marriage

being only between

one man and one woman

I don't feel like I am very good

at expressing my feelings about

this Proposition in a clear and concise way.

I was afraid to do this

but I decided that sometimes

I need to be willing

to leave my comfort zone and

speak up for what I believe in.

With that long preface

let me just say

that I had a positive experience tonight.

Even though my heart

nearly pounded out of my chest

each time I dialed a number -

I survived.

I spent 3 hours making phone calls

and probably spoke to about

25 actual people.

Of those 25,

probably 10 of them

were wrong numbers,

a few of them hung up on me,

and the others were all

willing to tell me they were

voting yes on Prop 102

and were quite pleasant

while doing so.

It didn't turn out to be

nearly as traumatic

as I had imagined

and I even got my

very own Yes on 102 sign

for my front yard.

Another step out of my comfort zone.

Today I am grateful for

sons who are willing to help me when I need their help.
a husband that lets me volunteer him for things and doesn't complain.
the privilege to live in a free country where I have the right and responsibility to vote according to my conscience.

Signs of the Times

I would just like to say that I will be so happy when the upcoming elections are over - for so many reasons. One of which is the fact that I am very tired of seeing political signs on every street corner. For a city with a "No Signs" policy most of the year Tempe sure seems to have its fair share right now.

There do happen to be a few that have made me chuckle though. The red one below is my favorite sign. It says "Return Barry Wong".

There is just something funny about this statement to me. I'm not sure what it is. It could be that Barry Wong just sounds too much like Very Wrong to me, but I think it's the word "Return". This word does not say "Re-elect" to me. When I read it I think more "take back" ie. I returned the shirt to the store because I decided I didn't like it. It also conjours up visions of alien abductions in my head for some reason. Apparently I don't associate positive feelings with this word and that's why it doesn't look right as a campaign slogan to me.

Another one that made me laugh (even though it probably shouldn't have) was for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Where it said Re-Elect someone had spray painted the word Deport over the top. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not condoning graffiti, but given recent events in the sheriff's department I could agree with the sentiment. I have voted for Sheriff Arpaio in the past, but he will not be getting my vote this year. He has outgrown his famous pink boxers, in my opinion.

Now, having shared with you my aversion to political signs, it may surprise you to know that I was a little upset to see a lot fewer of them as I took my morning walk around the neighborhood this morning. A member of our ward had posted a lot of "Yes on 102" signs in people's yards (with their permission of course) and I noticed today that many of them have disappeared along with a few McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden ones as well. Where did they go?? I can imagine sign thieves sneaking around the neighborhood in the middle of the night pulling up signs, but where do they put them when they are all done? Or maybe everyone just mowed their lawn this weekend and forgot to put the signs back when they were finished. It's a mystery. Just like these signs that I photographed on my way to pick up the son from school that were gone when I returned 15 minutes later.

I wish it were that easy to get rid of some of this years candidates. I wonder if I'd miss them too?

Political Promises

Today were the primary elections in our neighborhood. Our polling place was so close I could have walked if I had chosen to.

Last night the hubby made reminder calls to all of the kids about the election for a new council member on the reservation. They are lucky enough to vote in two elections!

This morning the voting age son was complaining that he didn't want to drive to the res to vote after work. It was too far. It was too hard.Blah, blah, blah. I reminded him of all the financial perks the tribe offers him and said that having to vote once in a while wasn't a hard pay back. (Well, that and getting summoned for jury duty about once a month. It doesn't always pay to be one of the community members with a clean police record. We get a lot of jury summons in our family.) His reply was "they don't have to drive to my house to deliver my percap check." Such a logical child.

After he left for work I started thinking that maybe the tribe should only give percap checks to those community members who made the effort to vote. They'd either get a much higher voter turnout or have lots of left over money to use for more projects. Or maybe they could pass it on to the voters. What a great idea!

This got me thinking about other elections.

Why isn't voting required?

Why is it only an option?

What do you think would happen if we were all forced to vote? Everyone over 18 rounded up every election day and escorted to the polls (at least we'd be able to find them that way).

Would this be a positive thing? Probably much better voter turnout than the measly 20% that they were reporting today.

The more I thought about it though the more I started thinking maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I think being forced to vote would probably end up bad. Some individuals would be voting for people they knew nothing about, or for issues that looked good on the surface but really weren't when you dug deeper, or randomly drawing black lines just to complete the voting process that was required.

But wait! Isn't that what is happening now in some cases?

Every time I vote, I leave the polls vowing that I will come a little better prepared the next time and then the next time comes and I still manage to see names on the ballot that I really don't recognize or don't know enough about.

Shame on me!

I need to appreciate the opportunity that I have to vote a little bit more. Just think of those countries where people actually put themselves in harm's way in order to be able to cast their vote and have a say in their government or have no say at all.
I promise to appreciate the opportunity that I have to vote a little bit more.

I need to get a little bit more excited about voting. At the presidential primary earlier this year there was a young lady there who had just turned 18 and was able to vote for the very first time. She was so Excited. She was dancing and yelling and celebrating big time.
I promise to get a little bit more excited about voting. (Like not count voting as my thing I really didn't want to do today, but did anyway.)

I need to do my homework a little bit better before I vote. Perhaps I could start by reading all the fliers that come in the mail before I throw them away or do a little research of my own on the computer.
I promise to do my homework a little bit better before I vote.

There you have it -
more political promises
that I promise to keep.

Today I am thankful

that I was born in the United States of America.
for a husband that washes dishes when it's his turn.
Grocery Stores where I can purchase just about anything I could ever want.

The new thing I learned today is that it is important to know which political party the candidates you plan on voting for belong to, at least in the primary election.