election day
when I moved to Florida and got my new driver's license, I registered to vote here. back in Wisconsin, you don't have to pick a party in order to vote in primaries, which I think is pretty excellent, but because Wisconsin and, like, Kentucky or something are the only states that do this, I was apprehensive about registering here. I figured I had to pick something, and I was surrounded by so much Republican rhetoric already in this state, I may as well pick Democrat.
I've never really thought of myself as a Democrat, since I've always considered myself a libertarian... fiscally conservative and socially liberal. but two things have nudged me in the Democratic direction--valuing social liberties more than fiscal conservatism, and how fucking frightening I find the Republican party.
I was reading an op-ed in the New York Times the other day (that liberal rag) that suggested that the outcome of the election today will likely make the GOP more extreme; seats in congress and the senate that are up for grabs are trending toward phasing out the more moderate Republicans, meaning that the ones that will be left are the really hard-line nutty ones that scare me the most. the article contended that the Republican party is becoming the "party of intolerance."
and I'm living in a Republican household right now, where I tend to keep my mouth shut on political matters because snarling Republican screed makes me want to hide. >_> but unfortunately, since I registered Democrat at the DMV, I've gotten a mountain of mailings in this swing state for Democratic candidates.
most astonishing, though, is that an Obama "get out the vote" worker came by the house this afternoon specifically looking for me to make sure I had voted. wow. I'm afraid my cover is blown.
Dan's dad joked that he was going to let the air out of my tires to keep me from getting to the polls. their church is holding a 24-hour fast and prayer vigil. one of the issues on the Florida ballot is adding a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, which I imagine figures largely into the reasoning.
per the situation at the polls here in Orlando, when I went to vote, I encountered no lines or problems. when I was done filling bubbles in with black ballpoint pen (what, no chads to hang?), I fed my ballots into a machine (... that detects black ballpoint pen?). wish I knew how they counted these things. for all I know it just got sucked into a stack to be counted later.
so anyway, without getting into some meandering breakdown of the candidates, 'cause nobody cares what I think or how I voted, I think it's gonna be an interesting couple of days. here's hoping that Obama doesn't get picked off by a sniper at Grant Park during his election night rally. >__< what was he thinking, picking an open place like that?