US Election Day is Tuesday, November 7

Please remember to get out and vote on Tuesday, November 7. If you are like me, you are pretty much afraid to turn on the television because of the infantile name-calling and general school-yard bullying tactics that are being used by the people who claim to represent us. In addition, as the polls have revealed a strong possibility of a Democratic takeover of the US Congress, the Republicans have gone back to their usual tactics of gay-baiting on the issue of marriage and fear-mongering in general.

I would urge all of you to simply turn off your televisions for the next few days and to keep in your hearts what the issues are for you. Many are focusing on the war in Iraq and the President's insistance on keeping Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. Are you happy with the course of this war? Others are concerned about the lack of healthcare for US citizens. Forty-six million Americans are living without health insurance now, a sharp increase from two years ago. Still others worry about immigration and our porous borders. While there are tax cuts for the super-rich, the middle class is shrinking more and more into poverty. While all of these issues are important, the Republican majority in Congress has focused on interfering in the lives of private citizens by meddling in the Terri Schiavo case, by proposing an amendment to the US Constitution to ban gay marriage, by building a record deficit out of the surplus that we enjoyed when President Clinton left office, and by trying to denigrate and influence the Judicial branch to support their radical right agenda.

You may hold dear different opinions of what this Congress has accomplished in Washington, but either way, I urge you to vote. Only by getting out and actually marking a ballot do you earn the right to complain about the direction of our country. Vote with intelligence, learn where the candidates stand on the issues that are important to you.

PLEASE VOTE FOR CHANGE, or should I say, "Please vote, for a change."

Categories: politics voting reminder election+2006