Blissful vs. Willful Ignorance: Either way, get out and vote!

Posted by

fitz in IMHO on Nov 04

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Hi all…

Today is Election day. It’s time to get out and do your part to contribute to our democracy. But that fact alone got me thinking a bit this morning… (Get ready for the ramble…)

Perspective view of the infamous 2000 Florida ...

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Is there a difference between blissful ignorance and willful ignorance? I think so.

If you’re blissfully ignorant, you truthfully don’t know any better. And being willfully ignorant means you don’t want to know.

In the current political season, I have to wonder…

It’s impossible to be totally blind to politics the year leading up to a presidential election unless you live in the woods and shun television, movies, games, radio… and people who don’t shun those things. You pretty much have to crawl under a rock and stay there, especially for the last month leading up to the actual election.

I love our country. But I’m sick of political ads. It’s sad when I’d rather go back to listening to ads about car sales than about what measure or person I as a voter should vote for. It’s also sad when on Sunday, you get people knocking on your door urging you to vote for their candidate.

I voted via mail-in ballot this year. I’m done. But the hullabaloo isn’t done yet.

It’s time for the election to be over. Then we can get on with whatever damage the next candidate (and measures) happen to do.

But that said, I’m glad I voted. You should vote too. If you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain.

So get out and VOTE!

–Fitz

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One Response So Far (What is YOUR opinion?) to “Blissful vs. Willful Ignorance: Either way, get out and vote!”

forged (Who am I?) Says:
November 4th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

I spent most of yesterday morning working through the very large Colorado ballot and then going to submit the ballot via early voting. While there are concerns about whether the ballots will be counted correctly (see our recent presidential elections), I like the capability to read through the ballot at my own pace, come up with the votes that make sense to me and my beliefs.

(And not use a cheat sheet that inevitably leaves out like 5 things that you need to vote on.)

But …. that is not what I’m commenting on. What struck me in this election’s massive hype is what a big business elections for state and national offices have become. While a part of me is so ready for it to be over, the other part of me is wondering how do I tap into the untold millions that are being spent so that someone can convince me not to vote for the opponent.

Heck, I read this yesterday from a 8/15 article on the Denver Post website. The quote is from Douglas Campbell (a third party candidate for the US Senate from Colorado): “My Democrat opponent says that the Rep (Schaffer) is a hand-in-the-till, corporate fat-cat elitist. He doesn’t deserve your vote, and you shouldn’t vote for him. My Republican opponent says the Democrat is a tree-hugging, tax-and-spend big-government elitist. He doesn’t deserve your vote, and you shouldn’t vote for him. I say you should listen to them.”

While I don’t always like the candidates that we get to choose between, I wish we could find a way to make the third-party candidates have more of a visible position in the election.

Ah well, two separate thoughts I guess.

We are only a few more hours away until voting is finished. And then we will have a week of commentary wrap up for the winners and losers assuming no controversy … (hahahaha).

And then we will resume our normal apathetic course. It would be fascinating if the United States allowed the United Nations to monitor our elections to ensure that they are legit.

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