Quick: Cast Your Vote

Except that this election (United States presidency, in case you missed it - between Obama and Romney) may not be a "quick" decision for you.

Far be it from me to pontificate about politics. I'm not even local to the debates.

But for a change, depending on where you live, of course, the outcome of this year's election may depend on your vote. For the rest of us (my absentee ballot is unlikely to be read, let alone make or break the count), the outcome of this year's election has ramifications.

That is, there are elections where the candidates seem to be largely on the same page - campaign rhetoric aside.  Really not the case this year.

For a change, I care pretty strongly about who wins. I think that there is a clear "better option" for the country, and even perhaps the world. Especially in these hard times - economically, militarily, socially - who the next United States president is may really make a difference. This, as compared to years when POTUS was merely "the most powerful man in the world" - and whoever filled the seat would do the job that needed to be done.

I don't feel that way this year. This year, your decision counts.

Moreover, there's that civic duty. Somehow, I feel bound by it - despite the fact that I am voting in a state with a foregone conclusion. Moreover, I am doing so, as I said, via absentee ballot, and the policy is not to read the absentee ballots unless the local votes are close enough that the election would hinge on the absentee ballots. So I care about the outcome this year, but my vote will technically not be counted. Why bother? In part, because I can - I have the right to vote. In part, because if my 93-year-old grandmother (as of today, in fact) has never missed a presidential election, how can I?

The polls are still open. Go vote!

[Note that I'm posting in a GMT+2 time zone - the polls are open in the U.S.; it's the next day already here.]