Eat your own dog food

This past summer, Vicki and I made a deal. I would register to vote, but I wouldn't actually vote until I could give reasonable explanation as to why I was voting for whoever I'd vote for. Well. It's the day before the election, I lack an absentee ballot, and am planning on going to Watertown tomorrow afternoon to vote. Because if I'm going to vote, well damn it, I'm going all out. I don't want to fill out a piece of paper and mail it in two weeks before Election Day. I want to walk in, wait in line, then fill out a piece of paper. (Which is funny, because we discussed in Ethics a week ago how precisely no one enjoyed doing this. Yet, here I am...) And one other thing before I go into any of this. I've come to observe that it might not be socially appropriate to ask someone who they're voting for. Can someone tell me why it's inappropriate? Maybe I'm just too oblivious to anything important to see this as more than what it's worth, but seriously? How easy a question is that to answer? "Did you do this or that?" And if you don't want to answer because you might be in conflict with the majority, or perhaps what I believe, well then shit, shouldn't you rethink that? If you believe in a candidate, let it be known. Don't go around parading it, but if someone asks you, tell them. Failure to do so, to me, shows a lack of faith in either the strength of your beliefs, or a lack of faith in whose question you're answering. Neither seem good. Just think about it.

That being said. I'm voting for Obama. Why? Well, for a while, I felt as though it seemed like this was something I would just do. Which is a bad reason to vote for a Presidential candidate. Two debates later, I had an answer. For me, my reasoning doesn't come in terms of policies or plans. If I really had that strong a grasp on economic, foreign, domestic, and other policies, then I would probably not be a math major. I lack almost any foresight as to how the economic fate of the country will be in the next four years. A quote that one of my best friends showed me was some politician saying something to the effect of, "You tell me what'll happen in the next four years, and I'll tell you what my four-year plan is." I totally buy into that. I don't know what's going to happen four days from now, let alone preside over a country of hundreds of millions of people for four years. No thanks. So what's left to go from? After watching the second Presidential debate, I just got this vibe that Obama believed in what he was saying a hell of a lot more than Romney was believing in his own words. And yeah, that means something to me. What'll happen if we're faced with some nationwide crisis? Maybe like, an economic crisis? Hell will freeze over before the four years of a President's term will go exactly how he says he plans it will. What I care about is what's going to happen when things start to run amok. And I believe that Obama will have a broader safety net when and if that happens.

Yes, I've thought about the character of the individual running for President. Yes, I've paid attention (albeit meekly) to policies. Yes, I know what some of the ideals are concerning the rights of citizens and humans. That's not as important to me. Nor will anything I say do anything about what you already believe. There's a reason group polarization exists. And I don't mean to imply that I can change anyone's opinions about who should be President. I don't think I can do that at all. This post is more for me than for anyone else (at least this latter half), but it never hurts to throw out a way of thinking that might have been overlooked. It might just change something, even if only in theory.