I don’t look at voting as a patriotic duty, or as having any intrinsic importance (there isn’t a worthless Fed note’s difference between the major parties). Rather, I look at it as a form of self-expression; whenever possible, you try to give a finger to the incumbent crooks.
And so, Tuesday afternoon I approached my voting location, and no matter how much I wanted divided government, I decided the Republicans would have to do it without my vote. I just couldn’t pull the lever for the Republican, even though I was in a swing House district in Virginia. And I sure wasn’t going to vote for the Obamaite Democrat.
Luckily, I had another choice, like the Nevada residents who can vote “None of These Candidates.” A small businessman in my district was running as an Independent. He had a small businessman’s attitude on fiscal issues, his campaign t-shirt said “Not For Sale,” and his position on Afghanistan was “get out immediately.” The Republican’s position on Afghanistan was that we should “win” that war the way we “won” the war in Iraq. That made it very easy for me to vote for Independent Christopher Decarlo.
As I approached the school, only the Republican had people handing out literature in front. As politely as I could manage, I vented. I told them in no uncertain terms how I felt about Republicans in general and their candidate’s stand on Afghanistan in particular, and they handled it well, putting up no argument. When I came out, I apologized for venting, but the leader immediately said, “I understand where you’re coming from.”
“Are you a Ron Paul supporter?” he asked. “Yes.”
“Are you a member of Campaign for Liberty?” “Yes.”
He smiled, we shook hands, introduced ourselves, and talked for about 15 minutes. Turns out he was with the Campaign for Liberty himself. A retired Army officer, he agreed with me on the idiocy of fighting in Afghanistan.
It pays to talk with people rather than argue with them. This actually turned Election Day into a somewhat pleasant experience.
P.S. As a bonus, the War Party Republican candidate in my district lost by just 821 out of nearly 500,000 votes. Decarlo’s 1,838 votes were more than enough to make the difference.
1:41 pm on November 3, 2010
