Shoveling the civic doody....

Well, I have been a good citizen and done my civic duty. If you have an election coming up and have not already done so - vote! I personally think that if you don't vote you shouldn't gripe about the results since you didn't put in your 2c (or 2p).

Although I admit, doing one's civic duty is more like shoveling civic doody - so often most of the races are a matter of choosing the least of the available evils. I try to be an informed voter, and I make use of the sample ballots to do research on the presented candidates and issues as best I can, winnowing down the choices until only one remains. Sometimes, though, the choice can only be made by some arbitrary mechanism if all other qualifiers are exhausted. Often, this involves voting against the candidate whose smear ads I saw first, or against those who have left 'vote for me!' messages on my answering machine. Or in the case of a city council race this ballot, the candidate for whom I saw fewer roadside signs.

I will be glad when today is over. I am heartily sick of the campaign ads on television, in my mailbox, and on my answering machine. It's even more annoying that so many of the candidates don't even address their issues, but fill up the airways with "Don't vote for Candidate N"! They sound so much like a group of preschoolers calling each other "poopyhead!".

Although I did see one interesting roadside campaign sign yesterday: "Vote for Joe Schmoe...for the hell of it!". Definitely a different take on things. Joe Schmoe wasn't on my ballot...although I might *almost* have been tempted to vote for him if he were.

For the hell of it.