Guardian of Democracy

Yep, it says that on my resume. Guardian of Democracy. Kinda has a nice ring to it, don’t ya think? Really I am just sitting here, doing some home work for an online nutrition class I’m taking, reading my book, typing this blog entry, and helping the occasional dysfunctional voter cast their ballot. This year I have been honored with the position of elections inspector, meaning that I am responsible for the entire operations of my precinct. Sounds intimidating, and for a general election in November it might be, but for this primary it has hardly been a deluge of voters. Mostly a slight trickle with an occasional splash. I have endured complaints about the location of the poll site, the lack of signage, the excess of sign age, and the requirement to show id at the poll. It is this last one that gets me, as it was voted on and enacted by the ever brilliant voters in Arizona last election and now people piss and moan when they are inconvienced by the fact that they haven’t lived at the address listed on their driver’s licence in ten years and can’t vote a normal ballot. I want to shout at them that this is what they get for enacting a stupid, poorly written, knee jerk political solution to a problem that didn’t exist. And then the complaints about not being able to find the site. Sorry, the 11 different signs posted around the building, the written notice, the addresses in the paper, all this was not enough for you to wander in here and scrawl your mark next to your candidate of choice? I guess I am a bit crotchety some times, but part of me believes you must demonstrate a very small measure of intelligence before you deserve to vote. But I don’t let that sentiment affect the exercise of my duties, by which I mean it is my job to help everyone, idiot or genius, who managed to get registered do their part for democracy. At the break neck pace of about 59 voters in the last seven and a half hours. Yep, everybody has something to say about government and politics, yet we are expecting a 25% voter turn out this go round. I say again, you that do not exercise your rights and take part in this thing we do, this governance of our country can go straight to hell and don’t even think of complaining about the condition of the roads on the way there or the management upon arrival. Why shoot, in Haiti I saw people by the thousands wait for hours in the hot sun having walked miles through a war zone to cast their ballots. Failure to appreciate and exercise the rights we have is an inexcusable offense in my eyes, made worse by fact that millions of others around the world would at this moment die for the chance to do what some lazy pieces of dung in this country haven’t the interest or inclination to bother with.

OK, I’ll give the soap box a rest for now.