Letters to the Editor
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This is obviously more about mortality than voting.
It's astonishing how persistent we humans can be in focusing on things we can't control in others, particularly when faced with the big things no one can control.
Nicely put. I like Cary's answer too.
Only one of my grandparents even made it to eighty, and the odds are against my parents getting there. Worry about the real problems you have, LW.
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I'm 85 and I vote a straight ticket.
Let me give it to you from an old person's perspective. I vote a straight ticket. Why? Because in the past, when my party wins it has benefited my country (in my opinion). And I don't pay attention to issues manufactured specifically to win elections. I don't care about Hillary Clinton's trips to Bosnia or what Barack Obama's pastor once said. Everyone will immediately forget about these anyway once November has passed. To someone who cares passionately about those things, my attitude might come off as out-of-touch.
Finally, what I tell my children and grandchildren is geared mainly toward avoiding an argument. I don't want any heated debates about politics with family members. It's not fun. Someone gets their feelings hurt. My feelings don't get hurt like that anymore. I don't care what they think about my politics. I'm perfectly satisfied to let them think I'm a fool if it lets us avoid the whole discussion that I'm so tired of.
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Bankergirl
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one out here who doesn't buy the "Rock the vote!" b.s.
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Thank you, Cary
for you lovely Jeeves quote. You made my day.
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Keep Your Piehole Shut
It is the right and responsibility of EVERY citizen over the age of 18 to vote. NOT only those whose offspring believe that they are somehow qualified to do so.
I don't care if they are the rightest of rightwing Republicans. Or if they write in "Charlie Brown and Snoopy" for their choices for president. If enough of us vote, we WILL have the rule of the majority, and not just that of the voters--because they will be one and the same.
EVERY citizen who has the right to vote should be doing so. If we had more people voting, we'd not be in the mess that we currently are in.
Who told YOU, LW, that you are the decider? It appears to me that it's just that same arrogant POV that allows our elected officials to make such egregiously bad decisions: the belief that they know what's best for the populace.
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Dear LW
Wow, just wow.
None of your business and if he doesn't seem to care who he votes for, why not make suggestions instead of trying to get him to not excercise his rights as a free citizen.
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My Dad is Voting and I am Glad
My Dad was born on March 2, 1925. He served in the United States Navy aboard the USS Ranger at 17. He put himself through school with the help of the GI Bill. He supported himself and a family of six. He watches John Stewart's Daily Show every day (when it repeats at 8:00 p.m.). I do not always agree with his politics. He does not always read the same papers that I read or agree with my perspective. I have never known him to watch any of the Sunday morning/afternoon talking heads. Generally, he thinks for himself.
He is an American citizen over age 18 and he has earned his right to vote. Whether he votes a straight ticket, a Gay ticket or a crooked ticket is his business. That's what being an American is all about. I hope that some useless chucklehead doesn't try to tell me to stop voting at age 84 just because I do not seem as engaged on certain issues. Show a little respect for your elders. And while you're at it, consider whether your 84 parent might possibly know more than an 18 year old who never has read a paper in his or her life, let alone lived long enough to develop perspective.
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For God's sake, let the old coot vote
It wasn't all that long ago that women weren't allowed to vote, in part because they were perceived to be too mentally muddled to understand the issues. Eventually, they got the vote. Did this mean they all magically understood the political situation inside out and backwards? No, but they got the vote. They were citizens, and they had a right to it.
A vote is a way of standing up and saying, "I deserve to be counted. I'm alive, I live in a democracy, and I can use my vote however I like. (That's what freedom is all about.) I can vote for someone, against someone, or for no one in particular. It's nobody's business but my own."
How many people won't vote in this election at all? Is apathy preferable to your Dad's well-meaning, if muddled desire? How often will he get to vote after he's dead?
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This letter is a hoax
How in the hell do you vote a "Straight Ticket" in a primary? All of the candidates are from the same party.
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I wouldn't worry about your Dad.
Your Dad being too old to vote is laughable. The Republican candidate being too old to make a sane decision is what I am concerned about, and why isn't the MSM demanding his tax return be made public, TODAY? Or, did he forget to file?
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You know who else shouldn't vote?
Women.
Oh, and black people.
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Drive someone to the polls on election day
when my friends and i first became of age during the vietnam era, we made darn sure we voted.
the voting machine booth was used back then - and i miss it for the privacy it gave - and during the presidential/state/mayoral election a friend of mine had trouble with his machine. he had cast his vote for all the candidates and issues except for the most important of all: the president. at that point he had a quetion about the machine, wasn't sure it was working properly, so he peeked out from his curtain and asked a poll worker to come over and figure out what was wrong (i've long forgotten what the problem was.)
it was his first presidential election, he was young. the poll worker was elderly.
she came into the booth and promptly pulled the lever back, the curtains parted, and thus my friend's one and only "non-vote" for president was sealed automatically. once the curtain lever was pulled, that was it, brother - no retakes.
he was very upset, there was nothing that could be done. so he left without being able to register his vote for president.
feeling politically impotent in this election, he immediately decided to go over to his party's headquarters and handle phone calls from voters looking for a way to the polls.
and on that day, he managed to drive several party loyalists (he hoped) to the polls. it was his way to make up for his "lost" presidential vote - his one vote lost equated to at least 10 more votes that would have never been cast if not for my friend still hoping to make a difference on that important day.
now, one can't be sure how anyone actually votes once they get inside the booth, but my friend was optimistic about each person he drove to the polls, chatting with them in the car, hoping that since they'd known enough to call his party's headquarters that they'd most likely vote for his party.
so, LW - not only must you drive your own dad to the polls, but if you disagree with how you feel he might vote, volunteer at your party's headquarters, and drive NUMEROUS like-minded people to the polls.
it can't hurt. and oh, yeah, pay attention to the other responders here. your dad has the right to vote.