How We Vote

Tomorrow/Today/Last Week… (aka. Whenever you happen upon this entry) everyone with in my state should go out and vote in the U.S. primaries.

Everyone but me.

Before I get virtually egged as a bad member of this society, let me explain: I am not a member of either of the major two parties.  Since I am not a member of a party, my state will not allow me to vote for who shall represent them in the larger election.  Actually I think the whole process of voting, and delegates and whatnot within the parties of the two party process makes me glad that I am not part of a system that feels more like a complicated sport than a representation of the people’s will.

By the time I registered to vote (lo those many 12 years ago) I had already been alienated by the system and I registered as a socialist. Since then I have gotten a lot of flack about my political alliance.  In my day to day I make a lot of concessions to work within the system.  How I register politically, and self identify should be a refuge, a space to only compromise as much as my heart will allow.  I do not feel left out, I do not feel as though there is some great party or process I am missing out on, and I do vote dutifully on the big election day.

I never assumed that the Democrat Party was the perfect fit for me, no more than the idea of registering as a Republican was more than a laughable joke.  But the Democratic Party seems to think that I am the right fit for them, and a default ‘back up date’ since there is not a ‘viable’ radical party.  The one thing I learned most in high school was to not settle, and go with the safe date.  I’d rather stay home for tomorrow’s big dance and save my dance card, and keep my head clear for the election, and more importantly – the day to day civil action I do- ahead.