So, today is Election Day 2012. For our household, it’s also the end of an average of 5 election-related calls a night. Coming from California, I’ve never been in a swing state, and most of the calls I did get there  were about local elections. Even then, I don’t remember getting more than 5 or 6 total each election. I’m actually kind of glad I’m not in San Diego; there are some really tough choices to be made on local and state races in CA. (The San Diego mayoral race is just ugly.) We had only one set of local votes in Westminster, a county tax vote for schools.

Some of the calls we got were asking our opinions about the elections. (Mostly they asked for me not Stan, not sure why. I must be a coveted demographic – Lucky me.) Since I voted by mail at the beginning of last week, those folks haven’t wanted to talk to me anymore. And we don’t even get up to answer any call that’s announced as Toll-free. (We have talking caller ID on our phones. Was worth whatever extra we paid during this election cycle.)

We also had at least a half dozen visit by local canvassers. Most were for the Presidential election, but one for for our local Congress-critter race. I’ve had visits in California, but always for local candidates. Of course, my old district was very clearly Democratic. Being a swing county in a swing state was crazy. My favorite was the three houses across the street (2 GOP, 1 Dem) with dueling election signs from every race. I get free speech, but a dozen signs in each yard makes the corner look kinda tacky.

Also, I really looking forward to enjoying social media without having to ignore about 20% of the posts my friends made. Now, I can understand that folks have differing opinions; I’m clearly on the left side of the political spectrum. But I’m really tired of the ‘the world is going to end if my guy doesn’t win’ or ‘go out and vote if your voting for my guy, but stay home if you’re not’ posts. I have to question whether I want to keep those ‘friends’ – do they really not understand or are they just willing to spew stupidity for the sake of fitting in with their  ‘party.’ Either way, makes me wonder.

Part of the value of US Democracy is that the world doesn’t end no matter who wins. Checks and balances, baby. Doesn’t mean I don’t care about the outcome. I do, but this ship is the Titanic, it doesn’t pivot on a dime for anyone. Not for the guy who’s been in office for 4 years, trying to change things, or for the guy who thinks he can change everything on day one (not that I think he actually thinks that – he just says that for his base.)

And joking about telling people to stay home or giving them the wrong day or place to vote is just stupid. The election is supposed to be as fair a fight as we can make it. Everyone who is eligible should participate; this is our government and when we choose we are doing the only duty that our nation asks of everyone. We aren’t required to serve in the military or civil service. The only way we could lose our county is by not participating.

We forget that the idea of the populace electing their representatives – from local mayors to the Presidency – was a radical idea that many learned men thought would fail. That the people were too flaky to make such critical decisions. Originally, only land-owning men could make those choices, but eventually that changed. Is our system perfect? Not by a long shot. But I choose to endorse the system we have as the best I have seen. And I do so by voting.