Statement on Politics and Voting

Greetings and salutations

I hope to be blogging more frequently and I hope the change I made to my comment section elevates the quality of my blog.

I really need to write more often and I apologize.

Up until now my posts have discussed specific political events or the topics were drawn from current headlines. I am going to take a break from this and discuss a matter very important to me.

Politics

In this particular post I am refering to politics in general rather than a specific political ideology. Granted, being a Conservative has been a very important influence in my life, but before I was a Conservative, I was interested in politics period.

Some of you know that prior to 1999 I lived in Germany for 17 years. During that time I was still an American citizen which gave me an interesting perspective very early in my life. Specifically it meant one thing: I could not vote. I knew I could not vote and knew that I would never be able to vote.

INTERMISSION
short of rejecting my citizenship and becoming German. SOOOOOOOOOO not gonna happen
END INTERMISSION

Even when I joined the youth organization of the Christian Democratic Union and later the party itself, I had a VERY limited impact in German political life -and I was one of the interested ones.
When I moved back to the United States I did my research (wrote Tom Daschle and John Thune and asked each of them to justify their party's ideology - Thune won). Later, I was surprised and shocked to discover how low our voter turnout is.

I strongly believe that our Nation is the greatest nation on this planet - but seriously folks, our voter turnout is pathetic.

Most people I ask about this (well, only those who don't vote) plainly state that their vote makes no difference, that politics is boring and doesn't affect them.
The last argument irritates me.

On this temporal plain of existence politics is incredibly important: politics governs your entire life. Think about it and try to come up with an area that politics does not affect...

You want to get married? You need a license and the county will have requirements.
You want to save money? First, look at your pay stub and see how much money goes to taxes. Second, look up the IRS regulations concerning IRAs, finally, if you invest look at capital gains taxes.
You want to buy a house? Make sure to check your home owners association's rules.
You want pets? How many cats does your city allow?
You want to drive? Every State has their own rules (and all of them waaaaay too easy)
You want to drive FAST? Who came up with 70mph speed limits? (I'm still bitter about those two speeding tickets in Minnesota...)

Politics, in some form or another, affects everybody. Even if you want to be a survivalist loner in Montana, you will be taxed. If you want to homeschool your kids, you have state guidelines. If you want to establish a freaky religious center in Waco, chances are the FBI will invade.

If politics affects your entire life, why would you NOT get involved? Most Americans pride themselves on being independent, yet refuse to participate in the system that has the power to affect their independence. This makes no sense.

Now we come to voting. In America, voting occurs approximately every two years. This being America, we vote about EVERYTHING. City officials, county officials, law enforcement officials, judicial officials, state representatives and federal representatives. Further, on most ballots you can vote on issues: specific county ordinances, local taxation, amendments to State constitutions. The list is endless. All one has to do is take an interest, spend SOME time reading up on the issues (and even if not, most issues are explained ON the ballot) and take the time to VOTE. You get involved and your voice will be counted.

And even if not, it is still important to take a stand.

I knew very well that Shane Osborn was going to win state office (even though his actions were stupid and potentially dangerous) but it felt good to vote AGAINST him.

Now lets discuss the coming presidential election.

Let's make this clear (clear? crystal...) I do not like any of the candidates. Or put different, I do not like any candidate's politics (I actually like John McCain personally).
But as I stated in an earlier post, the coming issues are IMPORTANT. For this Nation, at some point, they will affect life and death. I just have to vote.
Accordingly, I will even vote in the primary - just not for McCain - just so that I can sleep better knowing that I tried, I was part of the process in selecting the person who will lead this country.

And in November, I will vote against the Democrats - and yes, FOR McCain. I am too scared what a Clinton/Obama presidency would bring. So please, everybody out there who thinks they should stay home, please go out and vote.

And for all you people who want to vote for a Democrat, remember election day in November FIFTH...

Charles Garman