It's Speak Up or Shut Up Time

There are so many reasons to vote, and so few really good excuses not to. Here are some of my favorite things about going full frontal 19th Amendment!

You’ll have every right to bitch
If you vote, you have a certain ownership stake. You can gripe. Non voters should not pass judgment, much in the same way we as parents are entitled to bitch and moan about things our kids do, but would never want a stranger saying a peep.

Cool flag stickers
Even in my 40’s, I can still rock an “I Voted!” flag sticker like all get out.

On site bake sales
Sure, I should avoid muffins, brownies or(and) cupcakes at 8:00am. But these lovely treats are on display outside the middle school polling place each election to raise money to send our 8th graders on their DC trip. I am not giving in to sugar lust, I am helping send our borough’s youth to the epicenter of democracy.

Privacy
I’ve seen other states that have these lame little tables w/ stations for privacy. In my town, we still get the magic curtain. Aside from trips into the lockable ATM alcove, how many other times is total privacy mandated? You want no one scoping your actions, and your actions can change the world. I’m thing of putting a voting curtain around my shower to see if my kids will leave me alone then.

The silence of the booth
Under the guise of re-reading the public questions 27 times, I’ve been known to linger in some cases to enjoy the peace of the booth. Heaven. They must think I’m the least decisive person on the planet.

Use of something I learned in school(house rock)
A few times each year (if I count primaries, school board and budget votes), I go through the motions of something we learned in history and civics. Do they even still teach these things in school? I kind of feel like my kids can rattle off gobs about other cultures but would trip over the term lengths of a senator vs. congressional rep. Maybe I’ll plop them down in front of some School House Rock, which, let’s be honest, can be credited as much as our schools for teaching us about adverbs, conjunctions, lonely old bills here on Capitol Hill, nouns (you know- a person, place, or thing), and the preamble to the Constitution.

This election day, I say thanks to all the amazing service people who have given years of their lives, and sadly, in some cases, life itself, all to protect my freedoms. I’d also like to thank faithful fan Jenifer in LA for reminding me of the suffragettes, who traipsed around for hours in those crazy big hats and bustles in wind, rain, and searing heat protesting to win me this right… all I do is haul my ass out of a Lexus in the parking lot. Suffragettes, I tip my parasol to you historic divas!