Do your duty

I went to the poll yesterday to cast an early ballot – quite a crowd for day number one of early voting. The line was long, but well organized and moved quickly.  I looked around me and discovered even in white bread north Dallas there is still a melting pot of people. Whites, Blacks, Asians and Hispanics– old and young, college-educated and day laborers who barley finished high school; yet, they were all there to do their civic duty. Vote.

Longhorns, Aggies, Horned Frogs, Bears and Mustangs along with a few schools I had never heard of, ordained the t-shirts of several in the crowd. There was even a man with a West Virginia shirt on, but we let him vote anyway.

There were Jewish mothers and fathers, Baptist housewives, Methodist ministers and a few agnostics and atheists sprinkled in among those voting at a Lutheran church. Got to love the openness of America.

It felt good to be part of the democratic process. Going to a polling station and placing your vote for the men and women you wish to run the county, the state and the country for the next few years. It is almost cleansing, as if by placing your marks on a ballot, you’ve done your part in insuring that democracy works.

My wish is that every American who can, will go and exercise the one right that no one will or should take from you – the ability to have a voice and a say in your government. And yes, your vote counts. So go exercise it. It will do you good. It will do America good. And if you go at noon, I’ll have a better chance at a parking place at the mall.

Good luck to your candidates.  And remember, your vote is just as important as the Kock brothers’, even though they spent a hell of a lot more on their votes than you did.

Speaking of the Kock’s…if an employer tells you must vote a certain way or to give funds to a certain political party or candidate, call the U.S. Attorney General’s office or the local police or even the local newspaper. It is against the law. We don’t need that crap in our process. Not today. Not ever.

How you vote is your business and yours alone. No company, no church and no union has the right to control your vote.

It is your vote. Take care of it. Exercise it. Make it count.