{"id":23817,"date":"2020-09-19T16:05:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T20:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/?p=23817"},"modified":"2022-08-01T07:42:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T11:42:46","slug":"this-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/2020\/09\/this-ballot\/","title":{"rendered":"My Ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Well, we have received our absentee ballots<\/a> for the upcoming election.\u00a0 I have to admit, even the routine parts of this process seem to be fraught with tension this time around.\u00a0 I am being extra-careful to fill in the ovals the right way, using a pen of the right color.\u00a0 And I am going to drive to the election board and deliver my ballot in person, rather than take any chances with the U.S. Mail.<\/p>\n

Yes, I am paranoid.\u00a0 I am also guilty of over-valuing the importance of my ballot:<\/p>\n

\u2b2d\u00a0 It’s not like my ballot is going to bring Ruth Bader Ginsburg back to life.<\/p>\n

\u2b2d\u00a0 My ballot is not going to deter Mitch McConnell, whose hypocrisy observes no bounds.\u00a0\u00a0 McConnell and his cronies have clearly shown that hypocrisy is punished less than dogma is rewarded, and my ballot is not going to change that.<\/p>\n

\u2b2d\u00a0 My ballot is not going to undo all the damage that Trump & Company have inflicted on democratic principles and the function of our government, at all levels.<\/p>\n

\u2b2d\u00a0 My ballot is not going to end racism or get all the rogue police officers off the street.<\/p>\n

\u2b2d\u00a0 There is no referendum on my ballot on whether Russia should continue to interfere with our election processes.\u00a0 Or whether our leaders should invite them to do so (again).<\/p>\n

\u2b2d\u00a0 My ballot will not take one semi-automatic weapon out of the hands of a disaffected white guy, nor will it reduce the number of disaffected white guys who want them.<\/p>\n

So, is it not pointless for me to fill in all those ovals?\u00a0 Not necessarily.\u00a0 I have got to believe that voting for rational people and rational solutions is better than voting for demagogues and dogma.\u00a0 That is the battle I am joining by completing and turning in my ballot.\u00a0 I only wish that I could ensure others like me would do the same, in overwhelming<\/em> numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of contests, may I remind my readers of the special 10th Anniversary Giveaway that I announced here last week (see this post<\/a>).\u00a0 I know I’m not Publisher’s Clearinghouse, but I am a bit surprised at the limited response so far.\u00a0 I figure there could be a number of factors at work here:\u00a0 (1) the subscriber notification email may have been labeled as spam;\u00a0 (2) this site has fewer readers than I thought;\u00a0 (3) the note cards are not appealing enough, even if they are free;\u00a0 (4) some readers are choosing not to enter, to allow others to win.<\/p>\n

Well, if you haven’t entered, all I can do is encourage you to reconsider.\u00a0 To enter, please visit the post titled 10th Anniversary Giveaway<\/a> and follow the instructions there.\u00a0 Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, we have received our absentee ballots for the upcoming election.\u00a0 I have to admit, even the routine parts of this process seem to be fraught with tension this time around.\u00a0 I am being extra-careful to fill in the ovals … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23817"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23839,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23817\/revisions\/23839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}