Letters to the Editor
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Good Grief!
Do you think your pappy's the only person who votes a straight ticket or who throws darts or flips a coin or voted for the incumbent because, to do otherwise, is "unpatriotic"?
Let the man vote. He's just as qualified as the rest of us to flip a coin, take a guess, vote for the one who has Jesus on speed dial, vote for the one who doesn't hate broccoli, make a sine curve on the punch card like they did in the SATs, vote for Buchanan instead of Gore because of how the ballot was designed, press YES on the thing you meant to press NO on, vote the way your husband voted, or even actually READ the material and understand it.
Funny thing is, I would not be surprised if he's just yanking your chain really hard. I can see him chatting with his homies and saying, "I just love telling Junior I'm voting straight Libertarian this year. He turns red as a beet every time!"
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Papa was a rolling stone, a long time ago.
Cary,
You said it. Traffic Island, heh heh. I will never look at one the same way again, that was good.
LW,
I wish I still believed that a single vote made much difference, just like that. I wish, I wish, I wish.
Hey, my wish is not being granted! And I'm getting old too. This is not what I signed up for. Maybe you get your wishes, but telling your Dad what to do probably isn't going to be one of them. I know this from experience.
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Don't worry...
...only irrational people vote anyway.
His vote won't count - why bother worrying about it?
People vote because they feel like it's their duty, because they feel like they can't complain about the result if they don't vote, or because they can't stand just sitting around wringing their hands and hoping for the best outcome.
Take me for instance. I live in a traditionally red state. And I'm typically a 'blue' voter. Why would I even waste my time? The electoral college ensure my vote will never count towards anything. Even if we had a popular voting system in this country, it still wouldn't make a difference. At the end of the day, your vote only counts if you vote the same as a whole lot of other people. You can't control those people, who knows what they're going to do? Just relax and see what happens. Your life likely won't change either way, no matter who wins.
Unless its Obama. He has magical powers of some kind, or so I hear.
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Tests are only for young people, silly rabbit
You're gonna take it hard on this one. Don't ever question anyone over the age of 60 when it comes to politics. Haven't you heard? They know everything and don't need your input, thank you very much.
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No high school dropouts should be allowed to vote
Anyone who hasn't held a full time job in 10 years, scratch them too.
Millionaires and poor people, forget them.
Anyone with any criminal conviction ever, no vote for you.
Anyone who can't pass a piss test or breathalyzer at the polling place, sorry hippie and/or redneck, no voting today.
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How do you tell your dad?
Um... according to your letter, you already told your dad what you think. He plans to vote anyway. There you have it.
Voting rights aren't like driver's licenses; you can't prove to a judge that your dad is a moron and get them yanked.
As the years pass, I find myself less and less impressed by my parents' reasoning on political issues. When I was young, they were idiots. When I was a little older, they were unbelievably wise. Now they're heading towards idiocy again. It's desperately annoying to hear my mother say that anyone should be able to be pulled over and forced to take a piss test without probable cause because "they wouldn't do that to people like me anyway." But that's her opinion. I have mine.
Just one word of advice: don't talk politics over dinner. It's bad for the digestion.
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what?
I'm a bit confused by this (all caps is my emphasis):
"My 84-year-old father voted a STRAIGHT TICKET in the 2008 PRIMARY."
Of course he did! It's a primary and usually it's only the party faithful on either side that vote in it.
I think someone (and not dear old Dad) is a little unclear on the concept here.
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Oh, for pity's sake ...
Lay off your poor dad. If he wants to pull the lever and vote a straight party ticket, it's his right to do so.
OK, so on the new electronic voting machines, you press a button to vote the straight party ticket. Pulling the lever went out with those monstrous mechanical voting machines, which are being replaced all over the country. But the old machines were mysterious. Their automatic polyester curtain veiled the voter in the inner sanctum of the voting booth. The little metal levers and gears were intricately designed and fabricated; companies just don't make those kinds of mechanical things any more. And the machines made such a satisfying whirr and chunk as they recorded your vote. The electronic ones lack that magic, but they still make it easy to vote the straight party ticket. A lot of people will pull the lever or press the button or darken in all of the circles next to their party's candidates. When you know their political party, you have some idea of what these candidates stand for, or purport to stand for. Your dad may simply have decided to take the short cut.
Could the source of your disapproval be that he's pulling the lever for the opposite party? In that case, you should just agree to disagree with your dad on political issues. Don't torpedo your relationship with him over a stupid political argument that you will never, ever be able to win.
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The Question is not...
to let him vote or not.
The question is how to get him into some highschools/junior colleges and get the young teens/20's registered and interested in voting!!
Viva old men who still want to vote!!!!!!!!!
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Whatever
I can't even believe this letter was printed. Cary must have been feeling very lazy this Monday.