Voting 2012
I went to the library (because, I do that sort of thing) to pick up an item I had placed on hold. It wasn't anything special, just a CD of pop-music.
As I park and walk up to the front doors I see a woman holding a clipboard. Great, I thought, someone taking a poll or trying to save the Earth. DOn't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to saving the Earth, I just don't have any money and they all seem to want donations in the form of cash, credit or check and not in the form of time, experience or skill-set.
I walk up -- she's looking at me and I'm looking at her. "Are you registered to vote," she asks. Yes, I am actually. Well, I'm not sure, to be honest, I didn't vote in the mid-term election last year because I wasn't in town and I think Colorado has a program where if you don't vote they take you off the rolls.
Just to be safe, she advises, let's fill out another voter registration form. Okay.
Then she proceeds to treat me like an imbecile. Put your name there. Oh, you mean where it says name? Your address goes there. Oh, you mean where it says address?
I think she finally figured out that I could read and let me know if I had any questions shed be more than happy to answer. So, I sit down and start writing.
That's when she asks me, if the election were tomorrow, who would vote for. "If the election were tomorrow, I'd vote for the same person I plan on voting for on November 4th, Obama," I tell her. Obviously, by her demeanor and her harrumph! it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear and she became much quieter after that exchange only guiding me to the proper places on the form.
When everything was all said and done I stood and thanked her for her time and she stopped me. "Now that we're done, on a personal level can you tell me if you would be interested in voting for someone who has new ideas and can bring innovation to government to fix our economy?"
A couple of months ago I'd taken the quiz at I Side With and surprisingly I sided with a candidate I'd never heard of: Jill Stein, whom I'd never heard of before that quiz.
I asked her, "Do you mean like the Green Party, or something," to which she replied, no: Mitt Romney.
And that's when I had to school her. I informed her that economically Romney's plan is Bush's plan on steroids, re-implementing policies and procedures that destroyed the American economy. On a social policy side, Romney isn't too different than Obama. Do we really want to go back to failed Bush-era policies that destroyed our economy?
No. No? Then why would I vote for Romney?
She then explained that Obama hasn't been much better since his advisers were all telling him the wrong ways to tackle the economy. I asked her if she meant the Bush-era advisers Obama kept on when he took over the presidency? She nodded.
Then I turned the conversation to the GOP and their platform to not work with the democrats or the president to resolve issues that plague our country. She nodded along saying she agreed they were being childish, "They really don't want him as a president," she told me.
I know. Time and time again Obama has reached across the aisle to Republican leadership trying to come to a compromise or a consensus and time and time again he was turned away. They would rather the country fall further than work with the man. She didn't disagree.
Maybe I helped her think about how she would vote this coming election.
As I park and walk up to the front doors I see a woman holding a clipboard. Great, I thought, someone taking a poll or trying to save the Earth. DOn't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to saving the Earth, I just don't have any money and they all seem to want donations in the form of cash, credit or check and not in the form of time, experience or skill-set.
I walk up -- she's looking at me and I'm looking at her. "Are you registered to vote," she asks. Yes, I am actually. Well, I'm not sure, to be honest, I didn't vote in the mid-term election last year because I wasn't in town and I think Colorado has a program where if you don't vote they take you off the rolls.
Just to be safe, she advises, let's fill out another voter registration form. Okay.
Then she proceeds to treat me like an imbecile. Put your name there. Oh, you mean where it says name? Your address goes there. Oh, you mean where it says address?
I think she finally figured out that I could read and let me know if I had any questions shed be more than happy to answer. So, I sit down and start writing.
That's when she asks me, if the election were tomorrow, who would vote for. "If the election were tomorrow, I'd vote for the same person I plan on voting for on November 4th, Obama," I tell her. Obviously, by her demeanor and her harrumph! it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear and she became much quieter after that exchange only guiding me to the proper places on the form.
When everything was all said and done I stood and thanked her for her time and she stopped me. "Now that we're done, on a personal level can you tell me if you would be interested in voting for someone who has new ideas and can bring innovation to government to fix our economy?"
A couple of months ago I'd taken the quiz at I Side With and surprisingly I sided with a candidate I'd never heard of: Jill Stein, whom I'd never heard of before that quiz.
I asked her, "Do you mean like the Green Party, or something," to which she replied, no: Mitt Romney.
And that's when I had to school her. I informed her that economically Romney's plan is Bush's plan on steroids, re-implementing policies and procedures that destroyed the American economy. On a social policy side, Romney isn't too different than Obama. Do we really want to go back to failed Bush-era policies that destroyed our economy?
No. No? Then why would I vote for Romney?
She then explained that Obama hasn't been much better since his advisers were all telling him the wrong ways to tackle the economy. I asked her if she meant the Bush-era advisers Obama kept on when he took over the presidency? She nodded.
Then I turned the conversation to the GOP and their platform to not work with the democrats or the president to resolve issues that plague our country. She nodded along saying she agreed they were being childish, "They really don't want him as a president," she told me.
I know. Time and time again Obama has reached across the aisle to Republican leadership trying to come to a compromise or a consensus and time and time again he was turned away. They would rather the country fall further than work with the man. She didn't disagree.
Maybe I helped her think about how she would vote this coming election.
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