Tuesday, November 7, 2006

i will not do my patriotic duty today

I will not be voting today.

I know... it's shameful to say. I can barely type the individual letters, much less the words themselves.

I will not be voting. I will not be doing my duty as a citizen of the United States.

Here's why:

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I recently moved from Westfield, Indiana, to Beech Grove, Indiana. A few weeks ago, I went to a local bank to put some checks in my account and to withdraw a bit of money. To provide proof of identity, I passed the teller my driver's license.

When the transaction was complete and she returned the license to me, she asked, "Do you realize your license expired on your birthday?"

DOH!!! I didn't realize it. The sad thing is, my birthday was four months ago. I had been driving for four months on an expired license. I had passed countless police cruisers and sheriff cars. I had driven to Ohio and Illinois. I drove to work and around the city. All this driving... on an expired license.

So, finally, I went to the Beech Grove BMV office to renew my license. The BMV worker asked if I wanted to register to vote. I said that I did, and was informed that I had missed the October 10 deadline to vote. Which I knew already.

So, shame on me. I will not take part in this possibly historic election. I will not get to complain about who - and who doesn't - get voted into office in my district, my county, and my state. I will not be able to say, "I helped this person get elected."

Don't be like me. You go out and vote... if you renewed your license on time, that is.

For your reading pleasure.... some thoughts on the election: