October 30, 2008
Voting - is it continual improvement?
I can hear my mother Marge’s voice in my head, even now: “Mary, don’t just complain about something; DO something about it!” [Is that why I became an environmental engineer - because I feel strongly that we all should take a little bit better care of Mother Earth than we do? Or was it my dad, who told me when I was choosing between engineering, religion, and music for a major in college, that "You'll always study religion and music anyway, to relax and keep learning, on your own; so, go to school for engineering!"] But I digress…
So, Mom says, “Do something.” Elections are coming up here in the United States, and these elections promise to be some of the most exciting in recent history for us, as either candidate brings something new to the platform - either we will have the first African-American president, or the first female vice-president.
Emotions are also running high on this election. Folks who I work with want to get into political discussions; people I meet in social settings ask me who I’m voting for; and even my kids want to know who I think should lead our nation in the future. In work, I try to carefully state a neutral position and stick with it; with friends and family, I’ll discuss more personal views. (So, despite being really close friends with y’all, I’m going to stay neutral on this one, at least inside this blog.)
Among all this political fervor, I ask myself this question: Is voting our way of saying whether we want a change or not? [Both candidates say that things will change; the differences come in what those changes may be and how they will affect segments of our population.] And is this change a form of continual improvement, or is it simply change because we are mandated for a change every eight years? If this IS a form of continual improvement, is this method effective?
But above all, DO something (as Marge would say). VOTE if you have the opportunity. (I already have, courtesy of early voting.) And if you didn’t vote, well, then don’t you DARE complain about anything for the next four years - no matter WHO wins. I’m just not gonna have much sympathy for your position.
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Gina Badalaty said,
October 30, 2008 @ 9:47 am
Mary, I 100% agree with this. Even as a true Democrat, I can see why there are undecided voters, to be frank, I don’t think a 2 party system serves us well anymore. That being said, I think why we still see so many undecided voters (if you can believe new org’s and polls, and I’m not sure you can), it’s because these people ARE aware of the importance of voting in this election. In my heart, I think a lot of these voters are fiscally conservative and socially moderate or liberal, and so you see why there is no candidate for them.
Continual improvement is a lovely, idealistic way to think of voting. Is it accurate? I don’t know. Of course if you believe that the GW Bush administration was a disaster, then perhaps it is no matter who wins. Both these candidates have made mistakes I wish they hadn’t made, and politics is a grand show here, but perhaps either one might be able to make the difficult decisions and choices that will bring the US back up off it’s knees. We can only hope…