Vote

October 26, 2010

As if you weren't already sick of reading Let's Do It! and finding links to campaign ads, early voting schedules, and reasons to vote for Chet Edwards, along I come with even more political-y stuff.

That's right, Davis had to get in on the act. Here is his letter to the Ohio State University school newspaper, The Lantern, that appeared on Sunday, admonishing his fellow students to vote:

The Nov. 2 election is just two weeks away and each of us has a choice. We can either vote or stay home, but with either choice we send a message. Voting expresses your opinion and shows interest in your future. Not voting, however, is tantamount to saying you don't care, that either choice is as good as the other. If common every day citizens don't demonstrate interest through voting, we run the risk of extremists or flawed candidates winning the day. Without voting, we leave it to others to make important decisions.

Congress passed many bills last session (including the TARP, the stimulus, Cash for Clunkers, the Health Care bill, and Cap and Trade) that will greatly affect our lives. TARP and the stimulus both hugely impacted the economic climate and could have saved us from a second great depression (we will never know how bad it could have been), but each came with a large price tag that will need to be paid down eventually. Cash for Clunkers allowed thousands of people to upgrade their automobiles, making the American roads safer and more fuel-efficient. The Health Care bill and Cap and Trade could drastically change each of their respected industries. These issues matter and will change our lives.

We are not without choice though. On the issues presented in this election, a clear distinction between the two parties exists. Real choice is before us. With our vote, we express whether Democratic policies like the Health Care bill should continue and whether Cap and Trade should be instituted. With our vote, we can indicate our preference between the cutting the budget or cutting education. We can stand up and make a choice or we can sit on the sidelines and accept whichever outcome happens. As for me, I don't want to be a bench warmer. I choose to play the game.

Frankly, we are in the game (as Davis puts it) because we care. We care more than we ever have before because Erin made us care. She was an all-in player. She would never understand why people wouldn't take the time to vote, to talk about issues, to call their Congressman, to be involved. She loved going with me to the polls, visiting with the election workers, and dreaming of when she would get to vote.

I sat at the congressional debate between Chet Edwards and his challenger last night and missed Erin. She and I had gone to every other debate Chet has had locally.

I missed her muttering "liar, liar pants on fire" when his opponent said something she thought wasn't true.

I missed her tallying up the number of times his opponent said "Pelosi" or "Obama" on her own personal scorecard (40 times, for the record) and whispering to me, "If Mr. Flores wanted to run against Speaker Pelosi why didn't he move to San Francisco instead of Bryan?"

I missed her pointing out the subtle change in Chet's expression (little more than a small nostril flare, quick parting of his lips, and a little steeling of his eyes) when something his opponent mentioned made him mad enough to provoke a hard response. When she saw that look, she would always nudge me and whisper, "here it comes" and boom, here it would come, raining down like fire.

I'm not going to tell you who to vote for (as if you didn't know already), but I will say, if you are thinking of sitting this one out, DON'T!

Vote for Erin's sake.