On Civic Duty. And/or: The Crushing Certainty of Defeat.
I live in a red state. A very red state. A state so red that I feel something very like despair when I consider its redness. Every single county -- even the "liberal" ones -- voted for McCain/Palin last election cycle. Oklahoma was the only state in which every county voted the same way. So when I go to vote, I never expect that vote to mean anything. My polling place is an Episcopalian church, which offends me at its most basic level. While I suppose it is nice that the church donates its space and the volunteer time of their little old ladies, I can't help but be astounded that we allow such an obvious, if symbolic, breach of the separation of Church of State. And so I grit my teeth and I hand my ID to the little old ladies who probably have no sinister plot to guilt people into making conservative decisions. Probably. (On a side note, I didn't realize until I was voting that I wasn't required to show identification in order to vote. This was the only measu...