Election Day is Upon Us
Here it is, 3:34 PM on Election Day. Most people are on pins and needles, regardless if they support Kerry or Bush. There are so many varriables that can come into play.
Yesterday, my friend Paul had his 1995 Dodge Carivan stolen from the 2200 block of Eutaw Place in Baltimore. It was recovered because it had Lo Jack in it. This is the next street over from Linden Ave. Paul is in the process of finishing up his house on Linden, to move in soon and in the meantime, is renting an apartment on Eutaw. My question to the world is this: Did Paul's minivan get stolen because it was easy to steal, or was it stolen because it was Paul's minivan? I am hoping it was the first scenerio, because if it is the second scenerio, that may make me pause on buying a house on Linden. My plan is to have a garage to keep my truck in, along with another car for a roommate or whatnot. My Ram does have a key based antitheft system called SentryKey, so it is slightly more secure than Paul's, which they just jamed a screwdriver in the ignition. But if it was stolen to send Paul a message, then Adam, Steve, Lenny & Lena, Cem & Julie and Mike F may have trouble brewing on the horizon. Lets hope the RFP goes though, so we can have thirteen houses versus five.
One of my friends, who is a police officer and volunteer firefighter in Ohio attmepted to save the life of a man. My friend went up the ladder, and lowered the man off a third story balcony. The gentleman was flown to Toledo to critical care hospital, where he later died. My friend is OK, but shook up by the fact the gentleman died. Here is a link to the story.
This reminded me of something quite important. Despite how politics drives our world, the world goes on independent of who wins or looses, at every level, today. I wonder if this man, would have cast the deciding vote for Kerry or Bush, or his grieving family and friends decide to not go vote, to visit him in the hospial in his dying hours, leads to a victory for one canadate or the other. Between now and 2008, babies will be born, people will die in fires, cars will be stolen and houses renovated. This goes on no matter who is president. While I hope my canadate wins, the world will go on, just not as much to my liking.
Speaking of voting. I went at 11:30 AM local time to vote. I had to wait in line for roughly 25-30 minutes. This is the busiest I have ever seen my voting location, ever. People are turning out, at least in Prince George's County. There were many first time voters in the line of about 70 people too. I am glad to see people fired up about carrying out their civic duty.
Expect more blogs as returns come in.
-Gungy
posted by Matt @ 3:34 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
My dad came home from work about 4:30 pm and went to the neighborhood high school to vote. He told me horror stories about how other people at work had gone at lunch and had to wait up to two hours.
My dad came back less than 25 minutes later and said there was no line at all. The more I think about it, it seems to be a microcosm of sorts. It is a microcosm in what a small percentage of people this presidential election will actually affect.
I estimate less than one million people in this country will be directly affected by whoever wins, be it Bush or Kerry. There are thousands of people who are working on each candidate's campaigns. There are hundreds of potential appointees who will benefit from future government positions should their man win. Insomuch as deaths from heart attacks from cleaning up are included in hurricane death tolls, probably a hundred people will have heart attacks upon learning who won this election.
Granted, everyone is paying attention to this election. This election is likely the top story in the news in 90% of the countries in the world. It is certainly the most media-covered election ever in this country. Most of the countries in the world will be affected by the policies of whoever wins. However, the result is not direct.
This election is just a news story to me. It is entertaining in a way. The anecdotes are priceless. The result of the election does not directly affect me. Rather, it is not likely to directly affect me, as you never know if something crazy could happen and the draft could be put in place again. But the election of Bush or Kerry is not going to gain me employment. I am not going to win a television or new computer. I have not bet any money on the outcome. Aside from news, my life will go on in a certain direction. My friends will either be bummed or pleased with the results (in almost all cases, bummed = Bush and pleased = Kerry), but that is fine. Everyone is an individual, and these individuals form part of my window on the world. It just so happens that they are fired up about their "civil duty" and I am not, which is perfectly fine.
Dan
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