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Just finished casting my vote. As it has been every year at my polling place, the process was smooth with minimal wait time. They have three lines that divide people alphabetically by last name, and I've never had to wait on more than one or two people to get my ballot. I was happy to see that even though the precinct has voting machines, paper ballots were available. (I always vote with paper and pencil. Let's hear it for paper ballots, voter ID, and ink-stained fingers! Maybe someday we'll have the latter two.)
As for traffic, it was definitely busier than I've seen it in past years at 2:00. There would probably be much longer waits for people going in the morning before work, at lunch, or in the evening after work. I always try to vote at odd times to avoid the rush.
My Presidential candidate probably won't win today, but no matter. It's a beautiful day in Northwest Arkansas. A beautiful day to go vote.
UPDATE: David Kinkade also had a smooth voting experience down in Little Rock and says that early voting is for suckers. I never vote early either. I love voting on election day.
UPDATE 2: Commenter Michael sees hope for McCain based on this. Interesting. I guess we'll know the validity of the analysis at that link soon enough.
UPDATE 3: Mark Steyn has no faith in exit polls. I think that's wise.
UPDATE 4: My idea of watching The Outlaw Josey Wales or Yankee Doodle Dandy rather than election returns was vetoed, so we're headed over to the house of someone who gets more than fifteen channels for our fix of non-stop political coverage.
UPDATE 5: Doesn't look to me like things are heading for a McCain upset. On the bright side, it also doesn't look like the Democratic Party is headed for 60 Senate seats. Congratulations to the winning candidates, and with that I wish you goodnight.
UPDATE 6: Well, I couldn't help myself. I stayed up to watch Obama's speech. As I said over at Althouse:
I thought most of Obama's speech was good. I thought he was especially gracious to McCain. The part about all of us getting together and reforming the country started getting a little socialist-y, what with the imagery of legions of citizen workers building brick by brick, neighborhood by neighborhood, rising and falling as one.So, I may not have liked everything he had to say, and I may not agree with anything he wants to do, but I was excited to see such a historic moment unfold in real time.
Congratulations, President Elect Obama.
13 comments:
Initially, I too was thinking that I was whistling in the wind regarding my Presidential vote.
Then I saw an article which provided hope: http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/toast/ .
I've never voted with a paper ballot in my life, and I'm surprised at how many people here in NW Arkansas continue to do so when the electronic ballot is so easy. Folks around here are very superstitious - or mistrusting.
I like the idea of voting on election day, but I always seem to be working late (past 7 or 8PM), so I've voted early for years now.
My son, on the other hand, got to vote for the first time yesterday, and he wanted it to be on the actual day of the election.
No congratulations from me. He is not my President. He can go to hell along with the rest of his Chicago cronies. Screw him.
I really enjoyed voting this time around. I was brimming with love for my country, and for all those who made my freedoms possible.
I voted electronically. Nothing could be easier. Lines were not long at our polling place, either, but it was nine in the morning.
I'm not thrilled about the president-elect, and I disagree with his politics pretty vehemently. I think his political philosophy is anti-American, frankly. But I intend to respect the office and pray for all our leaders, including him.
Since when is working together "socialist"? Ever hear the phrase "A house divided against itself cannot stand"? I heard some really important Republican once said that.
Or maybe "Join or Die"?
How about "E Pluribus Unum"?
Working together for the betterment of all isn't a socialist idea. It is what the country was founded on and what has made us the most powerful country in the world.
If collectivism is what made countries great, there are many countries whose greatness would dwarf our own.
Innovation born out of liberty is what makes this country great. Voluntary cooperation makes this country great. Cooperation through force, not so much.
Once again, you are straw manning the argument. Obama isn't calling and never has called for collectivism. He is calling for this country to work together. Your own president these past eight years called for the same thing after 9-11 (and subsequently ignored his own words).
There is no such thing as forced cooperation, and you're right; it doesn't work. He is asking for everyone to work together to improve this country. Cooperation is how he became president even though he had to fight the two strongest political machines in the country to do it. Cooperation and working with all sides is how he got ethics reform through both state and national Congresses. Cooperation is how he got a bill requiring all capital crime interrogations to be video taped in IL by a unanimous vote even though originally all Republicans and the police lobbyists were originally against it.
He isn't going to "force." He isn't going to send dissenters out to Guantanamo. He isn't going to call those who disagree with him "unAmerican" or say that only his supporters are "the real Virgina." He has always been center left, and that is why moderates voted overwhelmingly for him. He knows that governing from the far left is a guaranteed way to make sure nothing is done, or at least won't last two years.
You may not like it, but he will be your president too. Your voice will be heard.
You claim to be a Christian, remember the words of your Christ: "Judge not lest ye be judged" and "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?" Take a step back and look at what happens without your bias first.
John, you write as if there is no record to go on. The man is liberal. Very liberal. "Moderates" voted for him because he is an engaging personality, not because of his record. No one has claimed that he won't be their President. Of course he's the President of all Americans. I've even congratulated the man.
The idea of a legion of citizens directed by the government, "rising and falling as one," and building things "brick by brick" is very familiar to anyone who watches a lot of Chinese film. It's classic socialist imagery. That may not have been his intention, but it is off putting to those who don't share his collectivist, spread-the-wealth mindset.
I've noticed a spate of non-Christians quoting the Bible at Christians. Why is that? It's amusing. Especially instances like this where the quotes aren't even applicable to the discussion.
Looks like I was right, and we're already talking non-voluntary cooperation:
http://overlawyered.com/2008/11/community-service-yep-mandatory/
Yes, voting for FISA was such a liberal, left-wing vote. So is increasing our military presence in Afghanistan. You can't name a single far left policy of his that you haven't completely made out up.
Citizens working together to improve the American infrastructure is communism? We were communists during WWII? And during the Great Depression? Building the infrastructure that we depend on daily now was a horrible goal?
Regarding the Bible quotes, I was (and technically still am) a Catholic. I was raised through 12 years of Catholic schooling. You are passing judgment on Obama without looking at what your policies have done for the past eight years. You also seem to judge me prematurely. If you really hold to your Christian faith, maybe you should pay more attention to its tenets of love, peace and forgiveness.
As for that last link, he does intend to make community service mandatory at public schools. Isn't it a tenet of conservatism that you should have to work for what you get? This policy would institute that. Doing anything beyond the public school system would require creating some completely convoluted variation on the draft and could never hope to make it anywhere legislatively.
What is it with conservatives such as yourself having to straw man your opponent's position on absolutely everything?
Can't name a single far left policy? Where have you been?
-"spread the wealth" Let's hike taxes on the rich people and give the money in credits to other people. That is far left.
-The man's record on abortion is extraordinarily far left. BAIPA being the most egregious example.
-The surge didn't work. It did work, and he finally conceded the point.
-Card check.
-Saying he'd raise the capital gains tax rate EVEN IF it cut government revenue in the interest of "fairness."
And those are just off the top of my head.
Did we swing heavily towards socialism during the Great Depression? Hell yes we did. That and the Great Society swung us far too heavily into socialism.
You referred to Christ as "your Christ," not "our Christ." Spare me your religious biography and preaching. If only "my policies" had been in place for the last eight years... I wish.
No, a tenet of conservatism is not that it is okay for the government to press you into government-approved labor. And no, a tenet of conservatism is not to socially engineer volunteerism by running it through the government filter. Yes, you work for what you get, and you do that by getting an actual job, not joining some government make-work program.
On mandatory community service, I assumed you were talked about the college tuition handout the students would get as to what they are working for. Where you actually talking about their public education? If so, that's even worse. We force them to attend school, force their parents to pay for it through taxes, and then we force the students into government service? That's a lot of government force.
Spread the wealth is a mischaracterization of his quote, even McCain just 6 years ago was a strong proponent of the progressive tax system we have now. It's not far left.
"Abortion should be rare and safe," far left? He is personally against abortion, but recognizes both the personal right to privacy contained in the Constitution and recognizes that a woman's right to choose is a private matter between herself and her doctor. (I don't know the acronym you used so I can't speak to it.)
The goal of the surge was to give space for political reconciliation. This hasn't happened and so it wasn't successful. It was more successful at reducing the violence than either Obama or I expected, and he has admitted that, but that doesn't make it successful.
Card check already exists, the rule change that unions are pushing for removes the second vote that the businesses can force and allow them to strong arm employees out of signing up for a union. Look up the facts.
If you consider Warren Buffet a vocal supporter of the "far left" go for it on the capital gains. Again, progressive tax is not a far left idea, it is a centrist idea.
I did say "your Christ." I don't know which form of Christianity you follow, but, having researched many variants in my time since leaving the Church, I believe they don't all follow the same God or Christ.
If I understand correctly, it is a tenet of conservatism to work for what you get. From what I understand of this community service plan, it only applies to those students in public schools (generally free or greatly subsidized through the government). Thus the students that would be involved in this community service would be doing it in return for their free/discounted education. This goes for all of his public service programs, college, public school, etc.
No one forces you to send your kid to a public school; as I understand it you are a home school proponent. The taxes pay for the public school system, which in turn improves the value of your property. That only scratches the surface of what public schools do for the community at large, but that is all I will dig into right now.
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