please vote today

Putting all of the rhetoric aside... all of the divisiveness and the fear. Today is the day to vote and make this extraordinarily long and expensive campaign season that we've all had to endure mean something.

Once I got to vote, my ballot (to the right) only took less than 5 minutes to fill out. After that, I went over and got my free cup of coffee from Starbuck's (which was more full than I've ever seen it).

On a broader note... I hate that, apparently, the easiest and cheapest way to engage voters and motivate them to vote is to polarize the issues and scare the crap out of them. Whomever is elected has the double-challenge of not only digging us out of the horrible mess that we're in as a country, but also of repairing the damage of millions and millions of dollars worth of advertising designed to scare people and tear both candidates down. Our political process is a mess - probably because the general public is so disenfranchised and apathetic about our government that the only way to approach them or to engage them is to terrify them. The vacuum of power left by apathy fosters this environment of fear, confusion, corruption, and the undue influence of lobbyists and private influence.

This is an amazing country full of incredible people... and if we could only try to achieve something together and see through the polarizing "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" we can go back to accomplishing great things.