Waited in line for about 1.5 hours to vote. Every other time I have voted in my life, I have never seen such a large percentage of black folks. I would say that the percentage was 75% black, 15% white and 10% other. The Republican Party seriously should have put J.C. Watts on the ticket. I'm not kidding. I like him better than McCain.
There is a laundry list of reasons why you can vote early. Mine was that I will be working extended double shifts during the election. I wonder what the CPD is worried about? Perhaps the golfers out at the Country Club of Charleston are going to burn down the City Market if McCain loses? The area soccer moms are going to riot? Since we are so worried about conservatives rioting and burning down neighborhoods, perhaps they should give the whole police department the day off. After all, we're mostly conservatives. /sarcasm off/
There was a gentleman behind me in line at the polls. He spoke with a Persian accent. We had a nice conversation about cell phones. He mentioned that he would be traveling overseas for about four months and would not be here on election day. He was wondering if he should buy a quad-band cellphone and get a sim card at his destination, or if he should just buy a cheap phone. I asked him where he would be going and he said Iran. He has family there and is going home to visit for a while since he was laid off a few months ago. He apparently worked for a local medical equipment company. He invented a special bed that shifts air around inside the mattress and keeps the patient moving. It is used for people with fluid in their lungs, such as those with pneumonia. The company he worked for owns the intellectual rights to his work, so they paid him a small lump sum for his invention and then laid him off. I wish it was appropriate to ask people how they voted. I was dying of curiosity. (BTW- I told him to just buy a cheap phone in Iran rather than the expensive quad band one.)
So... indecision.
I got home and told Mrs. Warpiper that I had 'hovered.' As in, I hovered over the button for my candidate for POTUS. I had a choice between voting my party or voting for principle. During my reading this week, I was reminded of a quote by John Adams this week in the comments section of a local blog. He said,
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”
The words came to me as I stood there, stuck in indecision. I had filled out my entire ballot with the exception of the one most important block. I voted against some amendments to the SC State Constitution, and I voted against a couple of liberal in conservatives' clothing folks. One of them was a sitting U.S. Senator who supports amnesty for illegal immigrants. In all, I mostly voted the conservative ticket with a couple of "take that, you asshole" votes. When the ballot was completely filled out, I came back to the POTUS. I had to ask myself if my indecision was partly caused by the fact that SC is going to be a red state no matter what I did. Did the knowledge that this election is not going to come down to South Carolina's electoral votes as the scale tipper make me suddenly more principled? Or, if I felt the election was going to go down to the wire even in SC, would my vote be influenced by that? I still hovered over the button.
As President Adams' words came back to me, my decision became so clear that I could not figure why I hesitated so long. I voted for a domestic (small government) immigration (secure borders and no amnesty), fiscal (conservative) and foreign (Boltonesque) policy that I can agree with. There was only one party on the ticket that fit the bill.
I looked in the mirror a little while ago. Adams was right. It is a sweet reflection.
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