Whatever Floats Yr Vote

I'm going to go vote tonight. This will be the first election I've voted in where I'm actually voting for a candidate rather than against a candidate (which just so happened to be the illustrious GWB both times, a decision I'm feeling pretty good about right now).

Not that there aren't things I'm voting against in this election, because if you're even sort of paying attention, there's plenty do vote against.

Things like pounding the Fear Button repeatedly as you talk about your opposition's tangential relationships with "a worshed up old terrorist", or exhume the moldering corpse of Joseph McCarthy and call your opponent an out-and-out Socialist even though your running mate expressed similar sentiments regarding the relative fairness of a tax plan that supposes that those with more can afford to give more, way back in 2000, you know, back when he had a soul.

I'm voting against race baiting, mean-spiritedness and this notion that there are more "real", "pro-American" citizens and places in this country. I'm voting against small-thinking and divisiveness and a country where you are on your own, unless you're a banker. I'm voting against no-bid government contracts and "preemptive strikes" and a chest-thumping foreign policy that only makes us less safe and diminishes our standing in the world. I'm voting against privatizing Social Security, health care and education.

But that's only half the story.

More importantly, I'm voting for something in this election. I'm voting for equality, for hope, for sacrifice and for steadiness in a time of incredible instability. I'm voting for an America where we look out for each other and work our damndest to eliminate ignorance, poverty and dependence on foreign energy. I'm voting for cleaner air, cleaner water and a healthier future. I'm voting for more jobs, more prosperity and more competitiveness in the world. I'm voting for a fresh set of eyes that will hopefully change the way things get done in Washington and in the world.

I'm voting for a candidate who asks me to sacrifice for my fellow citizens, to sacrifice for my country. I'm voting for better schools, better factories and better communities. I'm voting for green jobs and purple states and the red, white and blue that promises us all that if we work hard and help others, we can succeed in this, the greatest democracy in the world.

I'm voting for hope. I'm voting for change.