I Voted With My Feet!

I voted with my feet yesterday! No really, I did. I haven’t run in a little while, so I decided to run to my polling place, about a four mile round trip. Combined with a three mile walk to Libby Hill Park at lunch, I got some decent exercise. Now, I have a dread feeling that I accomplished more with my run to vote than the Congress will in the next two years, but maybe they will prove me wrong. Maybe they will actually figure out how to get some work done instead of just fighting with one another, spin doctoring every little thing that happens, posturing, and blaming the other party. But in any event, I voted, exercising my right and privilege, my duty and responsibility.

I hope that you did as well. It is not my business how you voted, but it is my business if you voted. And frankly, it is your business if I voted. That is how a republic works. And every Election Day is proof that our republic has survived another year. So I hope you voted.

If you are Catholic or Jewish or Hindu or Muslim, I hope you voted. At one point in this country, you had to be white, male, Protestant, over 25, and a landowner to vote, or to serve on a jury.

If you are an American of African ancestry, I hope you voted. At one point, many of your ancestors were brought here in chains under unimaginable conditions, and treated as beasts of burden with absolutely no rights. It took until the after the Civil War for black males to have the right to vote, and it took another 100+ years for full citizenship. Many people sacrificed tremendously to make it so. You owe it to them to vote.

If you are a woman, I hope you voted. 91 years ago, you did not have this right, and many women worked hard and sacrificed much to convince men – who had all of the power - to allow you to be able to vote. Suffragette leaders were unjustly imprisoned, force fed, beaten, and generally treated inhumanely. What would they think if they could see the large numbers of women who do not vote?

If you are a young person, I hope you voted, because it was in my lifetime that 18, 19, and 20 year olds were given the right to vote.

If you are an American citizen of any race or religion or national origin, I hope you voted. All you have to do is drive by the tombstones of Arlington National Cemetery to be reminded of the sacrifices people have made on our behalf to keep this country free. Hell, all you have to do is look at the news, with a major war still going on nine years later.

I voted with my feet yesterday. Whether you did the same, or got to the polling place by auto, horse, bicycle, or limousine, I hope that you voted.