My First Vote
The year was 1996. I turned 18 a little more than a month before that year’s Presidential election: I could vote. Oh, glorious day.
One small problem: I was registered to vote in Forest, but I was in school in Columbus. Problem solved: vote by absentee ballot. I think I ended up registering to vote, actually voted, and did my Selective Service thing all in the same Saturday.
I hated everything that Bill Clinton stood for in 1996. In the Jesse-to-Jesse political spectrum test that was popularized at the time by USA Today, I was to the right of Rush Limbaugh. Scary, huh? [What a difference a few years make.]
I voted Dole in 1996—not because I particularly liked him, but because I didn’t want four more years of Bill Clinton. I thought, at the right time, that I was doing the right thing. I wasn’t, as I would later learn.
As I’ve been thinking about tomorrow’s election in the past few months, I’m remembering how I felt later on about my 1996 vote. I realize now that I shouldn’t have voted for Dole. I didn’t want him to be President. I remember joking about driving to DC and finding a way to make him “disappear” on Inauguration Day so that Jack Kemp, whom I did want to be President, could take the job.
In the eight years since then, I’ve learned an important political truth: negative votes rarely end up working out in the long term. I learned this here in Alabama first-hand: I campaigned and voted for Don Siegelman to replace Fob James as governor of Alabama, only to watch Siegelman do most of the very same things that Fob did. I had a couple high-profile run-ins with ol’ Don, including the time I was an eyelash away from being arrested by HPD for disorderly conduct and leading a protest without a permit. All that political activism taught me an important lesson: don’t vote against a candidate. Vote for a candidate.
I fear that far, far too many Kerry voters will learn that lesson on their own—whether or not John Kerry actually wins tomorrow or not. I can tell you that the lesson is a painful one. I know that first hand.
I remember, as I handed the city clerk’s assistant my vote, telling her whom I’d voted for. I was young, brash, and arrogant. Now I’m not-so-young, a little less brash, and a little less arrogant. I’ve already openly stated who I’ll be voting for, as if it really matters. My endorsement shouldn’t mean a damn thing to you—if you let me do your thinking for you, you might as well vote for me. [Sorry, I'm not eligible to hold the office until 2016.]
Well said. I didn’t vote for Bush, Kerry, Banarak, Nadar, or that Green Party guy. I wrestled with voting for Bush cause I certainly don’t like the idea of Kerry winning, but at the same time I wouldn’t be voting “for” Bush. I like what the Liberatarian guy had to say, but I think absolute freedom is absolutely wrong. As a systems engineer, I don’t like sub-optimization. I ended up voting for Peroutka of the Constitution Party (formerly the Tax Reform Party) for pres. He’s farther to the right than Bush, but the thing I really like was that he was for a greatly reduced federal government. I sat down last night add calculated that the government lets me keep about 15-20% of what I earn, and that’s unacceptable. I don’t feel I have gotten my money’s worth from the feds.
November 2nd, 2004 at 11:13 am—-
On a side note, I am all for scrapping the electorial college system. In todays society, it is obsurd to think anyone choses there candidate based on geography alone. I am all for a straight popular vote. The only people that are benefited are the political parties. They can focus on “battleground states” and ignore the rest of us. They should have to work for every vote and take none for granted.
I like what Ant-dawg has to say, but I really know nothing about the electoral college.
November 2nd, 2004 at 2:14 pmOpie:
You’re forgetting the real reason for the EC: it prevents having to stage run-off elections.
November 2nd, 2004 at 2:42 pm[...] Okay, I’ve had my lunch, I’ve got all the spam cleared out and everything has settled down so now I’ll speak my mind on the election. I stated in a previous post that I wasn’t satisfied with either candidate and while there has been a lot of change in my thought process the statement still holds, but not for the same reasons as before. I know that probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but bare with me and hopefully I’ll be able to better explain myself. See in September when I made that statement I’ll admit that I had not done enough research to completely understand both candidates, or at least have a real good feel for where they’re going. Today, I’m happy to say that I’ve done a lot more studying on the subject and I feel like I have a better idea of what needs to be done and where this country needs to go. I also have a lot more knowledge of the candidates. When I went to the polls today I was still undecided, I was leaning towards one candidate but Geof planted a seed in my head and I wanted to make sure that when I went to the poles I actually was making the right decision by voting FOR the candidate that would do the best job as President instead of voting against the guy that I didn’t think could do the job. [...]
December 11th, 2006 at 4:38 pm