Why bother to vote

If you live in a safe Red State, why bother?

You won't change the result, you won't even influence the result. It's eight hours in-line to be pointless, right?

Wrong!

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and even more wrong.

There are a number of good reasons to vote tomorrow, even if you do live in Oklahoma, or indeed, Utah. You get the picture.

MoveOn just sent my wife an email, and I can't find a link so I'll quote:

Big margin = big mandate. The popular vote doesn't put anyone in the White House, but it affects what presidents can do when they get there. Want Obama to be able to actually do the stuff he's been talking about? Pass universal health care? End the war? Then we need a landslide.

The other things on the ballot matter! For example: Congress. Without more support in the House and Senate, Obama will have a hard time getting progressive laws passed. Plus, there are other important local races and ballot questions in some places.

If you don't vote, everyone can find out. Voting records are public. (Not who you voted for, just whether you voted.) Pretty soon, finding out whether you voted could be as easy as Googling you.

Help make history. You could cast one of the votes that elect the first African-American president. If we win, we'll tell our grandchildren about this election, and they'll tell their grandchildren. Do you really want to have to explain to your great-great-grandchildren that you were just too busy to vote in the most important election in your lifetime?

People died so you'd have the right to vote. Self-government—voting to choose our own leaders—is the original American dream. We are heir to a centuries-long struggle for freedom: the American revolution, and the battles to extend the franchise to those without property, to women, to people of color, and to young people. This year, many will still be denied their right to vote. For those of us who have that right, it's precious. If we waste it, we dishonor those who fought for it and those who fight still.

There is another reason .....

Tomorrow, history will be made. There will be a paradigm shift in both the politics and attitudes in this country, the like of which hasn't been seen since forever, and certainly since JFK.

This great nation will elect a black President. They will elect Barack Obama not because he is black, but despite the fact that he is black. They will elect the best man for the job, and for the first time, his skin color is a secondary issue for many, and a non-issue for others.

There is no going back. From the ghettos in New Orleans to the Projects in New York, black kids the country over will, for the first time, be able to believe that they CAN be anything they aspire to.

There is NO going back. The genie cannot be squished back into the bottle. The skinny black kid is will be President and, by and large, white people elected him.

It has been a long time coming. Too long, actually, but the moment is almost among us.

Regardless of the progress made in the next 4 years, the actual event will inspire, and free up the hopes of millions.

Racism will not end. It will not end in my lifetime. But tomorrow, with a fair wind and your vote the end comes a giant leap closer.

The reason to vote #6?

I was there! It was an historic moment in our nation's development. It was our Woodstock, our Moon Landing. We elected Barack Obama and I was there. I did my bit, and I can tell my grandchildren that ...

I was there.