Voting With Faith and the Hope of Cooperation

Next week we will go to the polls.

Image by J. Durham

Next week, you and I will fill out ballots to elect school board members, town board members, state reps and senators, U.S. representatives and senators, and the president.

But here is the deal. Someone is going to lose. Maybe it is Obama, maybe it is Romney.

And when that happens we need to remember that if our guy lost, there is simply one thing to do.

Keep moving.

We have seen a nasty, nasty election season. So many hateful things have been said on both sides. But once the election is over, there is work to be done.

People want jobs which includes civilians and returning soldiers. Infrastructure, education, and healthcare need to be addressed. Foreign policy  requires a light hand and understanding.

So let’s ask those members of Congress to do something simple.

Work with your president.

Forget the B.S. that he is not your guy. Forget your platform or that the other side has to move to your side because that shit has not worked. It has been obstructionist and has caused the country to halt. While I am not saying turn a blind eye to obvious problematic issues – such as Benghazi – I am saying it is time we put the best interests of the country to the forefront.

You want to fight with the president because he is not doing exactly what you want. But then the Speaker of the House works out a deal where the POTUS concedes a few things and you concede a few things so that everyone can win. That is until Congress goes against the deal because it is not exactly what they want. Why did our bond rating drop? Because Congress would not work with the president.

Quite frankly, it makes our government look like a bunch of kids who take their baseball home because things did not goes their way. And you know where that leads, don’t you?

Out of office in the next election.

I am talking to the Tea Party members who have proven to be a big bunch of babies but it will include Democrats who can’t figure it out as well.

I don’t want to hear anymore stories about secret meetings that took place the day of inauguration in order to plan the downfall of the newly elected president. I do not want to see voting not happen because the plan wasn’t ‘their’ plan despite the fact it was based on their plan or that it will help the regular people of this country.

More importantly, I am tired of the fighting when solutions are needed. I can’t believe I am saying this but New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie has become the example of working together during the aftermath of a major storm despite his negative rhetoric earlier in this campaign.  While that is the example to follow, come next election I will vote out every single one that I can who cannot be bothered to work with the other side.

Image by Expressive Grafix

Forget your petty squabbles, the need to be right. It is time to do the right thing for the American people. You know who they are, right?

They are the ones paying for your salary and that great health plan.

 

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Sticking My Foot Into It

The past few weeks, I have been seriously AWOL.

I have thrown up a post here and there. I have dropped in on a few of the other bloggers that I enjoy but the truth is I took a break from the blogging world.

So where have I been?

Image by Grafixer

First of all, we had County Fair. It was a great week in which the rabbits stayed at the fair grounds. We showed them and the guinea pigs. My daughter made a poster about her turtle and fishing. She already has an idea for her sports fishing project for next year. My son worked on a theater portfolio which made it as a state fair delegate.

A week later, we headed to the State Fair with another family so that four projects – fudge, cheese muffins, the portfolio and a paper collage project – could be judged at the state level.

The week following our State Fair trip I was working on the rummage sale for our church. We set up tables, organized items, priced them, and prepared for people to walk in on our preview sale for Friday Night and the regular sale on Saturday. Then there was the clean-up.

I bagged up clothes to put in a donation bin, shoes to go to Share Your Souls shoe charity, puzzles went to a senior apartment center and left over baked goods were served during our Sunday morning gathering.

What I have been doing is checking in on Facebook with updates of items we had for sale.  But then I allowed myself to join a conversation about a placard that stated 29% of military members were denied the right to vote.

Image from a facebook friend’s page.

I am not sure why it rankled me so much. Maybe it was because the placard did not tell the whole story.  Nor did the placard mention that the story initially broke in the fall of 2011.

So who is responsible for getting that ballot out? Well, that would be the county clerk’s job once a request has been made and those ballots have to be sent out 45 days before the election. Once you receive your ballot you have so much time to get it back and that depends on where you are stationed.

People not having the ability to vote taken away from them is bothersome. But this story is a year old. I want to know how or if this issue has been resolved because all of my searching found nothing new.

So I am asking all of you who know someone in the military fighting overseas if this happened to them. If it did, were they able to resolve the problems from the 2010 vote? Are you helping to ensure that your person in the military who is overseas is able to vote in the upcoming election?

You might question why I am asking. There is a part of me that wants to know if anyone tried to resolve the situation.  Another part of me wants to have the last word and say “See, this is not a conspiracy. This is bad behavior on the part of some 3,000+ county clerks.”

In the end, knowing the whole story is what I am after. Did this truly affect someone anyone knows? Did they make efforts to be able to vote in the next election no matter what? Do they need help from family members who are stateside in order to get their right to vote? Did the story that ran on Military.com make a difference at all?

You tell me.

 

 

 

 

Proud to be an American? Then Enter the Voting Booth.

Picture by nasirkhan

Now that the Fourth of July is over and flags have been put away and all of the firecrackers have been set off, it is time to do the work  of a real American.

Get registered to vote!!!!

We partied and listened endlessly to that song by Lee Greenwood. People blew off firecrackers for a week. Oh, it was a good time. But, in my opinion, if you are really a proud American you will get into the voting booth this November.

Oh, I hear the roar of the excuses not to vote.

• “All them politicians are crooks.”
• “All of them are the same, none vote for me.”
• “If I register to vote, they will call me for jury duty.”

Image by Ladyheart

Forget those flimsy excuses because they are worth squat. Instead, look into the eyes of a soldier and say you don’t vote. Especially those men and women who went to Iraq and Afghanistan to “protect our freedoms.” By not voting, you are telling those people their efforts were for nothing.

Or how about you tell your excuses not to vote to those people who stand in line all day and risk getting shot or bombed or beaten because they want to vote. I remember seeing those pictures and wondering what those people would think if they heard barely 41% of our population votes.

Makes that couch look like a sorry excuse for not getting up, doesn’t it.You don’t like being called out for your lack of effort? I am not sure I care.

Being an American Citizen is much like being a parent – it is a responsibility. Oh sure there are a lot of fun things about being a couple/citizen but when it is time to do the dirty work of changing a diaper or voting for candidates people disappear quicker than my triple chocolate brownies.

In my town, people came out to vote in the last election because there were people up for the school board and village representatives. But county-wide it was a small turnout. Our country saw larger turnouts for mid-term elections and a bunch of wide -eyed republican reformers – were elected to office. Some like  Michele Bachmann  retained their seat and have come to the forefront of the political scene.

(By the way, I heard a nasty rumor she is from Canada but I have not confirmed that yet.)

My point is if you really want to make a difference, make a change in the way your government works, hate the guys currently in office, then get out and vote.

Picture by kenn kiser

People, throughout the centuries of our nation’s history, died so we would have this RIGHT and not using it is like listening to the evil one. The more you don’t go to church, the more Satan is victorious. The more people who do not go to the polls, the more those terrorists, who hate freedom, win.

Which side do you want to see “winning?”

The First Steps of a Citizen

Today was an incredibly special day for me.

I watched as my oldest son who turned 18 only a month ago vote in the primary. I wasn’t in the booth with him, I did not tell him who to vote for and I did not berate him for his choices. But I was watching as he placed his ballot in the box.

 What a moment, what a wonderful day. My son has started a life long adventure that is called taking part in the American process.

 For our family, voting is as important as eating. When one of your grandparents comes from Czechoslovakia and another is second generation, you learn to vote. The old country did not get that right for decades and suffered much for their desire to live free. If you happen to live in a country that allows people to vote, you get out of the house, get to the polling place and vote.

 I am a political junkie and can tell you at any given time who are possible candidates for POTUS. If I had my way, CNN would be on at our house 24/7 instead of Cartoon Network or the Disney Channel. Politics, whether it is on a local or national level, determine so many parts of our lives that one needs to stay informed so you can feel confident when you enter that voting booth.

 As I drove my son to school I asked who he voted for on his ballot. I congratulated him for joining the process and while he responded in a somewhat cynical manner, he responded. Another voter has joined the ranks. And I am so proud.

 Karyn Bowman is also known as Mom Goes to the Movies. She lives in Kankakee County with her outdoor writer husband and four children. Become friends with Karyn on Facebook.