Election day thoughts

Okay, this is it. Today may be the last time I vote in an election.

How much patience do I have with our country's political process? As it turns out, about 12 years' worth. Around 1994, when the Republicans came out with a steaming chunk of marketing doublespeak they called the Contract With America, I thought the country was collectively too smart to fall for it. It turned out my optimism was misplaced. Since then, I've been keeping a close eye on things, trying to gauge the fall of the national IQ. In 2004, the voters spoke again, and what they said was, "Please, GOP, lie to us some more. We love it."

Last time, I thought that the intelligence of the electorate had surely hit rock bottom. Today I'll find out if I was right.

I'll definitely vote today. I want to give the election every chance to come out the way I hope it will. If it doesn't, if it comes out the way it did two years ago—and this is going to sound petulant, I realize—I don't know if I can work up the will to take part again. If my fellow citizens still aren't tired of being lied to, after all these years, then there's very little that my vote can do about it.

Gore Vidal said, "Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never vote for president. One hopes it is the same half."