24 hours or so

The guy on the radio said they will probably start leaking winner predictions by about 5:oo p.m. tomorrow. Unless we suffer a hanging chad or Supreme Court intervention or some other such nonsense, we should have a new president-elect shortly thereafter. Silly season is finally almost done.

Lucas still says he doesn't think he'll vote - he doesn't like the choices. I told him he could write in another candidate. I told him he could pick one of the several other candidates, even if they weren't really viable contenders, just to make a point. I told him to take a left out of the driveway, cross two intersections, then look for the little building with the flag in front. I told him they might have candy. He said something non-committal, and my motherly instinct is telling me to let it be; if I stop nagging him, he might do it.

There's an e-mail circulating just now about the suffragettes and the things they went through less than 100 years ago to gain women the vote. I'm not sure I believe all of it - it also recommends a movie on the subject, and the subject matter is so sensational that I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before. But the fact remains that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers challenged their entire social structure and risked their economic and inter-familial security (which in that era was none to secure to begin with) to gain us this one precious right. The least we can do in their honor is vote. I have an opinion, as you know, about which candidate is more appropriate - but vote for the other guy if you must. Vote for the Green Party, or the Blue Party, or the Flat Earth Society, or what ever other party made it onto the ballot. Vote for a write in of your choice, just as an expression of your opinion on the whole process and the candidates at hand. Whatever. But go vote.

Your grandmother would approve.