The vote

Didja vote?

It's a little late to ask, isn't it?  I'll sure not bathe you in guilt for not exercising your civic responsibility because I have failed to pony up in my share of off-year elections. 

This year in my neck of the woods, we had a number of legislative and state constitution issues upon which to vote, all of which seemed as dynamic as white bread toast.  When you swept away the foam at the top of the issue and got down to the chunky broth, you learned that each of the eleven referendums upon which we voted dealt with allowing or curtailing more and more government creep into our stew.  To much meddling and you get pureed baby food.

As my eyes scanned the media outlets last night and this morning, it seemed to me that America's pretty fed up with government creep.  Take homosexual marriage.  Over the years, thirty-one different states have brought the issue to a popular vote.  Thirty-one times it's been shot down.  That means that the states where homosexuals can marry have brought it to pass through judicial or legislative fiat (aka "government creep").  Yesterday, the people of Maine rejected aberrant unions but with a mere 53% of the vote. 

Another slap in the face to government creep.  Both New Jersey and Virginia lost their democratic governorships.  Granted, electing John Corzine to another term in New Jersey would have been like electing Al Capone to a term as governor -- after his conviction!  I could also compare it to the legal problems of a half-dozen of President Obama's major appointees, but they are appointees and not direct elects by the people.  No, that hat would be worn by the President, friend to J. Wright, W. Ayers, and the like.  Old news.  Sorry.

One last note on the election.  I switched over to MSNBC at around 11:15 p.m. (CST) to see how they would be handling the election.  I got Chris Matthews and two talking heads, a black Democratic mayor and a white Republican Party spokesman.  I watched no more than three minutes before I could stomach no more.  The topic of discussion?  Not Maine.  Not New Jersey.  Not Virginia.  Some lesser New York legislative race where the Democrat won against a late entry Republican.  The black mayor was given unobstructed air time after which Mr. Matthews lauded him for his cogent analysis.  The white spokesman was continually interrupted by Matthews, mocked by Matthews for supporting "far right" positions, and rather being thanked for his opinions (I sure wouldn't expect Matthews to agree with or praise them), Matthews simply vomited, "You lost!"

During the Bush administration, when MSNBC lost viewership faster than the Titanic lost bouyancy, MSNBC attempted to maintain a modicum of balance in their news.  Even talking head shows with the exception of Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" attempted to present the conservative position without any derision.  With the election of President Obama and the liberal position earning the House and Senate, all pretense has faded at MSNBC.  You want to see the deviants of liberal America?  Watch ten minutes of Matthews, Olbermann, or Rachel Maddow.

(An aside: I would like to know who I might listen to if I wanted to hear an articulate, reasoned understanding of liberal politics.  Any suggestions?)

Anyway, back to the vote.  If you didn't get out yesterday, use that as an impetus to get you to the polls in 2010.  Elections occur in the spring and during the first week of November.  Be ready for them.  Know the issues.  Know the candidates.  Get beneath the froth and see if you've got meat and potatoes or an overcooked, overblended pot of gruel.

I'll leave you with some words from "Silent Cal," President Calvin Coolidge, excerpted from a gift I received this past week, Bill Bennett's "The American Patriot's Almanac."  Cal said in a 1924 radio address (you can read the entirety of the speech here),

All the influence of public opinion, all the opportunity for self government through the rule of the people, depends upon one single factor. That is the ballot box. If the time comes when our citizens fail to respond to their right and duty, individually and collectively, intelligently and effectively at the ballot box on election day, I do not know what form of government will be substituted for that which we at present have the opportunity to enjoy, but I do know it will no longer be a rule of the people, it will no longer be self government. The people of our country are sovereign. If they do not vote they abdicate that sovereignty, and they may be entirely sure that if they relinquish it other forces will seize it, and if they fail to govern themselves some other power will rise up to govern them. The choice is always before them, whether they will be slaves or whether they will be free. The only way to be free is to exercise actively and energetically the privileges, and discharge faithfully the duties which make freedom. It is not to be secured by passive resistance. It is the result of energy and action...

Persons who have the right to vote are trustees for the benefit of their country and their countrymen. They have no right to say they do not care. They must care! They have no right to say that whatever the result of the election they can get along. They must remember that their country and their countrymen cannot get along, cannot remain sound, cannot preserve its institutions, cannot protect its citizens, cannot maintain its place in the world, unless those who have the right to vote do sustain and do guide the course of public affairs by the thoughtful exercise of that right on election day. They do not hold a mere privilege to be exercised or not, as passing fancy may move them. They are charged with a great trust, one of the most important and most solemn which can be given into the keeping of an American citizen. It should be discharged thoughtfully and seriously, in accordance with its vast importance.

May God help us to govern ourselves that we might not have to be governed.