The Blahs

I get exhausted hearing what "they" have to say:  the Limbaughs, the Cheneys, the whole new crop of Tea Party candidates that the wacko right wing has nominated to run the country, Sarah Palin and Jim Demint, who in my mind should be linked forever -- wouldn't they just deserve that?

I get exhausted and then I feel the need to get away.  In other words, stop learning, stop writing, and of course the next step is, stop voting.

This is where many of us are right now.  In South Carolina, where our corrupt primary system is about as likely to change as Boeing is likely to pay its fair share for the right to take advantage of our cheap labor, we face a difficult choice.

If we are republican, we are going to stand in line for as many hours as it takes to make sure the folks who are going to run our schools, libraries, roads, hospitals and fire and police departments into the ground get elected, because they've promised us they won't raise taxes.

And if we are Democrats?  Do we vote for Alvin Greene and Ben Frasier?  Or do we vote for good people with strong democratic ideals who don't have a chance to win because they are third party candidates, have no deep pockets, or friends with deep pockets, but who are taking the chance of their lifetimes to try to right the wrong that is our primary system and our broken government?

Or do we stay home?

For me, staying home is not an option.  I will stand in line with all the good ole' boys and gals, and I'll vote for Tom Clements for Senate and Rob Groce for Congress, and those good Democratic candidates that somehow slipped through the primaries into the general election.  Because it would be wrong to not cast my one little vote.

Because this year if enough of us don't exercise that right, we could lose bigger than we did during the Bush dynasty.