I’m nothing if not a pretty significant movie buff. Then again, most people do like movies. I’ve also always been a very curious person. I ask a lot of questions and always need to know answers to everything. And it always drives me nuts not to know the answers to questions in certain movies. Hollywood is filled with tons of movies that have left it up to the imagination of the viewer as to how certain things happened or even how the movie ended. In spite of the fact that it drives me nuts, it is also part of what makes some movies great and keeps people talking about them. And secretly, I do like when a movie leaves it open to interpretation as to how a movie ends. But here are some examples of some questions that went unanswered in some of my favorite movies. Warning though, you might want to skip some of these if you have not seen the movie:

• Groundhog Day- I’m a big Bill Murray fan and I do love this movie. And even though you might not have seen it, you are probably at least familiar with the premise of the movie; a guy repeats the same day over and over. But it never answers the questions why or how does this keep happening. And we never find out why he is the only one who knows that he is stuck on the same day.
• Pulp Fiction- I will keep this one simple. What’s in the briefcase? The rumor is that it is Marcellus Wallace’s soul.
• Reservoir Dogs- If you watch the extra’s on the DVD, I think it is Chris Penn who wears a shirt that reads “Who shot nice guy Eddie?” which begs the question, who did shoot nice guy Eddie? All of the shots at the end of the movie can be accounted for except for the one that killed Eddie.
• Last Supper- This is a little known movie that I really like a lot. The end though is a total mystery. Did Ron Pearlman’s character kill everybody else?
• Inception- Those of you that have seen this movie know that a spinning top plays a big role throughout the movie. The last scene of the movie it is spun and we never find out if it stopped spinning or continued to spin.
• Castaway- Tom Hanks plays a dude stranded on a deserted island after his FEDEX plane crashes and he opens up every single package except one. What was in that last package?

These are just a few that I have come up with but I’m quite certain there are a ton more that either I’m forgetting or that I haven’t seen. Which movies do you wonder about?

Here is is nearly 2:30 in the afternoon and I’m just finishing my morning coffee. I’m on vacation this week and last night I went out with some friends to the city. I picked up my friend in the western suburbs about 6:30 last evening and we drove the 40 minutes to the city to pick up another person so we could have dinner before going to a bar. We had a great time at the first bar we went to before heading over to another bar where we had an even better time before eventually ending the night at an all night diner. I then had to drive the 40 minutes back to the western suburbs before driving another 40 minutes home. By the time I got back on the road after dropping her off it was morning rush hour traffic. As I drove I actually felt bad for the other motorists fighting their way to work in the morning while here I was just getting home from a fun night out. Man I love vacations.

It was past 7 am by the time I got to bed and it reminded me of my much younger unemployed days way back when and how I used to occasionally stay out all night during a weekday. While I stay out all night occasionally now, it is always on the weekend. But doing it during the week? Well shit that hasn’t happened in like 15 years. Back in the day before my best friend turned 21, we used to have to drive three and a half hours to Ho-Chunk Casino in Wisconsin to go gamble and we would do this on a spontaneous spur of the moment and eventually find ourselves racing home through rush hour traffic at like 7 or 8 in the morning. Shit those were good times. I wish I could be retired so I could do stuff like that again. Does anybody have like ten million dollars they wanna give me? Fuck I love vacations

Ever hear of Grover Norquist? Well for years he has been one of the most influential people in the country all because of his love of money and hatred of taxes. So, pretty much, greed. See back in the 1980s he worked with the Reagan Administration and sometime in the early 90s I believe he created a pledge that he got many members of Congress (pretty much all of them Republicans) to sign stating that they would never raise taxes. He in effect, almost became a puppet master to our elected officials, controlling them when it came to matters of taxes. His pledge was so powerful that Republicans lived in fear of what would happen if they went against it. If one of them would vote to raise taxes he would do everything in his power to get them to lose their re-election bids and in many cases it worked.

Well now that we are backed against the wall, many Republicans have finally started to grow a set of balls and fight back against him. It is not often when I find reasons to commend Republicans but this would be one of them. There is no reason why this guy needs to have the power he has. And more importantly, there is no reason why taxes should never go up for anybody or tax loopholes closed for anybody. Look everybody knows spending is an issue; I get that. But, there is no reason why somebody who makes 100 times what I make should pay less in taxes than me. Nobody is saying that the rich need to be taxed at 90% but all they are asking for is for the tax rate for the rich to go up a measly 3%. If the 3% breaks them, then maybe they need to look at their own spending habits.

Republicans have taken a lot of deserved heat not only for upholding this stupid fucking pledge, but also for not standing up to others in their own party who are clearly wrong. When the rare time comes that they actually go against a powerful allie, then they deserve to be commended.

I’m on vacation right now and I was trying to come up with a good place to go. Because my OT got slashed at work though, I decided to keep things fairly local and only go away for a max of two days. I’ve always really liked going to Ho-Chunk Casino in Wisconsin so I knew I wanted to spend some time there. I also knew that Kelly (Shamrocklover) lives in Appleton which is not really close to Ho-Chunk but presented an opportunity to actually meet somebody from Xanga. And as timing worked out, her sister Casey (Pennylumpkins) was visiting her so that meant two Xangans for the price of one. Now I live about three and a half hours from Appleton and we decided to meet up in Oshkosh which is about a half hour away from Appleton. I guess its a good half way point for us. Is that half way? Meh, hell if I know, I’ve never been good at math. But I digress.

I had a class on Saturday afternoon until 4 so I was  not able to set out until then. I was STARVING even before I got on the road but I didn’t want to get a full meal just yet so I stopped off and got a big ass fucking pretzel. I wanted a garilc pretzel so the dude put garlic powder on it but when I started to eat it, the damn powder went all over my coat. It looked like I had slide into home plate except instead of dirt being on my coat it was garlic powder.

I quickly got back on the road and started to race my way up to Oshkosh. Race being the key word here. Now I’ve been having some issues with my car lately in which the check engine light has been going on. Well it went on again and when it did it disabled the cruise control which normally I have set at somewhere between 10-14 miles over the speed limit when I’m on the expressway. But with it not working, I got a little more careless with my speed which is probably why the fucking cop pulled me over doing 80 in a 65 and gave me a motherfucking ticket for $200! Fuck me. I’ve known for years that Wisconsin gives some outrageous fines for speeding and it was a holiday weekend so I’m kicking myself for not being smarter.

Kelly and Casey were nice enough to pick me up at my hotel but I just had to get there. For some reason, Wisconsin is having a love affair with roundabouts. Have any of you driven through a roundabout? Well Oshgosh has a few of them and unfortunately I could not figure this damn thing out. My plan was to stay at the La Qunita and although I could see the damn hotel I was unable to get onto the road that it was on because of this stupid fucking roundabout. Around and around I went, meanwhile I had to piss like a fucking racehorse. So instead I just went to the Holiday Inn Express which was more money but had the added bonus of allowing me to piss sooner. Ahhh, the things we do when we have to pee.

I know this sounds kinda weird but I was actually kinda nervous about meeting them. Having Xanga known them for about three years now and read all about each other’s lives, it was almost like we already knew each other very well. But it was almost like meeting a pen pal that you have communicated with for years. I tend to get a little bit weird around people when I meet them for the first time and sometimes try too hard to be likable. I’ve already got a pretty crazy personality and this sort of thing only enhances it.

The girls picked me up about 8:40 or so and we headed over to one of Oshgosh’s two gay bars. We were in for a real treat. Turns out that BOTH of Oshgosh’s gay people showed up. One of them was a very friendly lesbian bartender. The other was a lesbian who seemed rather annoyed with us. Other than another guy and girl there the bar was empty. So we played a little bit of pool and then went to another bar across town that was not a gay bar. We had some drinks and ordered up some burnt pepperoni pizza. Mmmmmm burnt pizza……………still 100 times better than Pizza Hut.

They dropped me back off at my hotel about midnight. It was pretty cool to meet them. Kelly is about as sweet as they come very friendly and sociable. I got the sense though at one point that I might have been annoying her a little bit on the account that she asked me if I got more annoying the drunker I get (the answer is yes). Casey is very open and just all around cool. I think she might be the only person I have ever met that is more attracted to guys than I am. She is tons of fun though. In a way they are opposites but seem to have a lot in common if you understand what I mean. They certainly have that great bond that only sisters could have and you can see right away the amount of love they have for each other.

Sunday morning I woke up and asked the lady at the hotel where I could go for breakfast. She recommended a place that was actually literally right next to the La Quinta. Although it was only supposed to be a two minute drive, of course I got lost and it took me about 20 minutes. Turns out I went the wrong way on a road and yadda yadda yadda next thing you know I’m on the highway. I did eventually find my way and I realized it was of course much easier to find during the day.

Because I had the added cost of a $200 ticket I had to pay, I decided not to go to Ho-Chunk Casino but instead stopped off at the casino in Milwaukee on the way home. This would save me the cost of having to actually pay for a hotel room. Plus, going to Ho-Chunk is out of the way, but Potawatomi in Milwaukee is on the way home. I wound up spending probably four or five hours there, much of that time playing Casino War which is, well, remember the card game War that you played as a kid? It is the exact same thing except for money. Part of my problem was that the dealer was really cute so I spent more time there than I should have.

One thing I’ve always wanted to do was to take highway 41 from Milwaukee to Chicago. For those of you that don’t know, Hwy 41 eventually turns into the amazing Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Since I had the time, this was the route I took home. Sure, it was totally out of my way and made the drive home much longer, but shit I had time and nothing to do. Hwy 41 snakes almost along Lake Michigan as it goes through Illinois on the way to Chicago, however unfortunately it was dark out so I wasn’t able to see the lake. But it as a cool drive and neat to watch it build from a non scenic plain highway to the stunningly beautiful one of kind scene that is downtown Chicago. If you ever get a chance to go to Chicago, do yourself a favor and drive down Lake Shore Drive at night, there is really nothing quite like it and something I can never get sick of.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to write a $200 check to the fucking state of Wisconsin.

In all my time here on Xanga, I think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without writing a post, if you exclude the times I was out of town and therefore unable to make a post (although I did find a way a few times). So just what the hell have I been doing that I can’t take the time to post? Well I got arrested for public indecency and spent the past week and two days in a Turkish prison after I was extraordinarily renditioned. Did you know you can’t stroll naked through downtown Chicago during rush hour? Well fuck, I wish one of yous would have told me; it really would have saved me a ton of trouble and anal probing. But, nevertheless I am back. And here are some other highlights of my absence, at least when I wasn’t in prison. After all, they did let me out from time to time due to good behavior and sexual favors. See, the key is to get REALLY REALLY good at sucking cock. People actually reward you for that shit, can you believe it? Anywho, a brief summary:

• Friday, November 18 I went grocery shopping with my friend Dave in preparation for our great feast the next day. See, every year for the past, oh, ever, my friends and I have gathered the Saturday before the real Thanksgiving for something we have grown to call Friends Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving. We started out with 13 people but this year had grown all the way to 44 fucking people which meant that there was no way in hell that we can be held in a house. So we moved it to a clubhouse. And this is how I spent Friday my ever so exciting Friday night, running around with Dave from store to store buying all sorts of shit for Saturday. You would think this would be boring, but shopping with Dave is always an adventure in itself.
• And speaking of Saturday, that was the big day. I got up early, well what is early for me on a Saturday. First I got my hairs cut then headed over to the clubhouse which was about a half hour away to get shit set up. We spent a couple of hours there before heading home to shower and then I returned about 4:15 or so for the rest of what was a fun night filled with great food, friends, and for me a bottle and a half of wine. Perhaps this is why I’ve got gaps in what I remember from the night.
• Every month my friends and I take part in something we call Project Days in which we take turns working on home improvement projects at each others’ houses. Well somebody thought that the next day would be a great day to do this. Sure it was great because of the TONS of leftovers we had but bad for me who was hanging a little bit.
• Monday after work was the Bears game against the 49ers. Unfortunately for the Bears, nobody bothered to tell them that they were supposed to play. Fortunately for me, I had some shit to do, so while I had the game on I was only watching it off and on, which in retrospect was fitting because the 49ers were definitely on and the Bears were definitely off.
• Tuesday night I had a date with a guy who was……………..well he was not my type. Which reminds me, I should message him and tell him that because he was certainly a lot more into me than I was into him. And I never like to leave people hanging.
• Wednesday I was off work which in theory sounds good and relaxing, but I was pretty much busy the entire day. In the morning, I had a dentist appointment. I spent the rest of the day cleaning my house in preparation for family coming over today. Then I went to dinner with some friends before hanging out at a bar on what is traditionally the biggest bar night of the year.

And now here we are today. I hope everybody has a fairly decent Thanksgiving, try not to fight with your family too much or if you do, try to make sure you are good and drunk so people have trouble understanding the nasty things you say to them.

You may have heard about the whole fiscal cliff that we are going to drop off of if a deal is not reached between the Republicans and Democrats regarding spending and the budget at the end of the year. I’m with everybody else when it comes to spending and the national debt. Look, there is no doubt about it, we need to get our shit in order, plain and simple. But what isn’t plain and simple is HOW. If you ask the Republicans, raising taxes on anybody is NEVER an option but instead we should be cutting spending on entitlement programs such as welfare, among other things. Democrats say we should raise taxes on the rich and cut spending, in particular military spending, which Republicans are wholeheartedly against. So what is the best way to handle the situation?

Well first of all, when you talk about spending, you can’t even begin to have a serious conversation unless heavy cuts to military spending is strongly considered. The fact is, and overwhelming portion on our budget goes towards three things, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the military. Since cutting Social Security and Medicare is pretty much political suicide, it is usually never even discussed, not that it shouldn’t be, hell at the very least the system needs serious reforming if it is going to remain in place for future generations. But the military on the other hand, well that is a different story. Although I’m talking straight out of my ass on this one, regardless of what anybody says, we can probably stand to cut the cost of the military in half or even more and still remain the strongest and most powerful country in the world. Do you realize we used to spend over a hundred million dollars a year to make a jet that the military has never used and has no intention on ever using? The military budget is filled with wasteful spending like this all over it’s budget. Yet, when it came up for a vote to stop making the jet, there were still people in Congress that voted to keep making it, mainly because people would lose jobs if we stopped making it. Also, we pay military contractors upwards of $103 to wash one load of laundry and $48 for a case of Coke. If this isn’t wasteful and pointless spending than nothing is.

When it comes to cuts to the military, Republicans and even some Democrats refuse to see it as an option. Instead they would rather cut spending to PBS or on helping poor people keep their heat on during the winter. The way I see it, that type of spending is not even in the same universe with the spending that is done on the military. Anybody who refuses to discuss cuts to military but yet are hung up on insisting that there be cuts to unemployment doesn’t deserve to be part of any sort of spending conversation. Sure, nobody wants to support capable people who take unnecessary advantage of government programs and are financially dependent on the government. Yes, that is an issue for a percentage of the people on Welfare and other government programs. But, guess what? Not only is it not the problem but it is not even something that should even be discussed if we don’t handle the behemoth that is military spending. You can’t solve a spending and debt crisis without tackling the things we spend the most on. Cutting something like PBS while not touching the military is kind of like cutting a blade of grass in an acre of lawn and saying it solved the problem of overgrown grass.

I can say with utmost confidence that there is not a single member of Congress who can honestly say that every last dollar of military spending is absolutely vitally necessary to national security. And since nobody can make that argument, it is high time we look at the cost of the bloated military budget.

As I wrote in my Tuesday, October 9th post, I’ve got vacation time coming up with no place to go. At this point, it is highly likely that I will be traveling alone so that rules out many of the ideas in that post. Of course another option is that I don’t go anywhere, but honestly I don’t like that idea at all. I’m craving traveling right now. I just need to be smart and economical about it is all. I know Kelly (Shamrock Lover) suggested Nashville but I think that is a little bit further than I want to go right now (although don’t get me wrong, I definitely want to go sometime). I’m considering Minneapolis, which is a very gay friendly place and I have been to the Mall Of America a few times so it wouldn’t be completely foreign to me. Plus, I can stop off at Ho-Chunk Casino near Wisconsin Dells along the way. I’m also considering Springfield, IL again or perhaps St. Louis. Been to both places and could very easily go again. Indianapolis crossed my mind today too as I have never been there. I’m not looking to go for anymore than two or three days at the max.

But all that being said, I am looking for any other suggestions. And also while I’m looking forward to driving, I also haven’t ruled out taking a train. I love to travel by train and haven’t done so in quite some time. Plus, it would liven things up………..I could talk to all sorts of people and not be as lonely. However, train is not nearly as reliable and I would have to be back no later than Wednesday evening. So what do you all think or suggest?

For those of you that don’t know, I’ve got a twin brother, Mark. People who know me but don’t know him are always asking me the same question: “is he anything like you?” I’m kind of a goofy guy always doing and saying crazy and goofy stuff. I guess it is fair to say he is kind of goofy too but not the level or extent that I am. But, with regards to our personalities, we do have some attributes in which we are very similar if not exactly alike. Which brings me to last night. We went out with a group of friends to see a band at a casino. We were gathered at the back of the bar area watching the band and having a good time. We were right next to this tiny bar kind of in the walkway but we were clearly not the only people gathered around there; while it was not packed, it wasn’t like there were only a few people standing out there. Well this grumpy, older lady walked by and was rather annoyed at everybody standing there. I’m assuming she was pissed off because she probably lost money but as she slowly moved through the area she said “you know, you guys aren’t even supposed to be standing here”. To which I loudly replied “yeah it’s okay we are all good and we ain’t exactly moving. What, are you upset because you lost?” Either she didn’t hear me (which was probably likely because she was old and the band was loud) or chose to ignore me because she just kept on walking. On a side note, if we weren’t supposed to be standing there then I’m quite certain employees of the casino would have said something. Those of you familiar with casinos know that most casinos run a tight ship when it comes to customers doing things that are improper.

Flash forward to the end of the night. My brother was cashing out and getting back all of 60 cents when he sarcastically screamed “WOOOHOOOO!” just as another rather good looking lady was walking by so she told him to shut up. Mark quickly replied “I wasn’t talking to you, dumbass!” While I probably would not have said the exact same thing, I clearly would have made some sort of smart ass remark as well. I know these stories make us look like a couple of dicks but I swear we……..wait, I guess we kind of are dicks. I mean more mature people would have just let it go.

Earlier in the night though we were discussing a story from our childhood that I had completely forgotten. When we were growing up, my mom was friends with a lady who had a son who was a year older than us but had cerebral palsy. Mark and I were tiny kids (just like we are not big adults) and he was bigger than us. Of course, my mom used to force us to play with him even though we didn’t like him very much because he was kind of a dick and seemed to have some anger problems. Well case in point this one time when wee were about 9 or 10, we were in the backyard playing and I don’t know how it all started but I guess I pissed him off to the point where he started choking me. So Mark looked for anyway to pull him off of me and grabbed him off me  by pinning his arms back behind his back but not intending for us to double team him. So what do I do after I got up, I started punching this now defenseless kid, with cerebral palsy mind you, in the stomach. And what should happen at that very moment but his dad looking out back to catch us doing this to his son. Obviously he was pissed even though it wasn’t quite what it looked like. I mean it looked like two kids double teaming a kid with cerebral palsy but it wasn’t. After all the kid with cerebral palsy was beating me up…………..ohhh fuck there is just no way for me to look even remotely good here so I’m just gonna stop. Funny fucking story though.

Election Day/night could not be anymore different for me than it was four years ago. Back then, I was one of the lucky people to be in Grant Park when Barack Obama was elected president. You can read all about that night by going back to my post from Wednesday November 5, 2008. This year though I was not lucky enough to be at Obama headquarters in Chicago’s McCormick Place. I was going to have to watch the results of what promised to be a very close election from the comfort of my non historic home.

I was planning on getting to work early to work overtime. So I set my alarm for the ugly hour of 5:40 in the A.M., early enough to account for a line at the polling place. The line wound up being non existent and for the most part, I was in and out. I got out of work right at 6:15 that evening and headed straight home. My plan was to watch the Chicago Bulls game and periodically check in on the election mainly on CNN but also across various networks. I like to contrast and compare the coverage between the different networks, especially the extremely conservative FOX News and the ultra liberal MSNBC. I tend to watch CNN more because they are only biased for themselves, always bragging about how great they are. So here is how the night unwound for me:

• Started watching CNN right about 7:00, so far Romney had an early lead. The Bulls were taking on the surprising Orlando Magic in Chicago, so I put that on shortly thereafter. Things started off rough for the Bulls, it seemed like they were going to be in for a long tough night as well.
• Midway through the first quarter, I turned the election coverage back on. Obama had a slight lead in the electoral votes while Romney was ahead in the popular vote. CNN was busy dreaming up all sorts of different scenarios while playing with their fancy technology so I clicked on FOX News. Boy, it is amazing how biased they are. Karl Rove was already mentioning how hard it was going to be for Obama to actually win the election and how even if he somehow managed to win, it would mean nothing because he wouldn’t have won the popular vote. I clicked on MSNBC which was yammering on about how tough it would be for Romney to win.
• Now it’s about eight and the Bulls are struggling; they are looking lethargic and like they just don’t want to be there. Meanwhile, various networks had various totals as to who was winning the electoral vote, however they all had Obama losing the popular vote. On FOX, Karl Rove was busy pronouncing the death kneel for the Democratic party in America while at the exact same time on MSNBC, they were pronouncing the Republican party dead.
• After halftime, midway through the third quarter, the Bulls were starting to heat up a bit as was the election. It seemed like the more results they showed, the closer the election got. Obama and Romney appeared to be within a point of each other in just about every state, especially the two important states of Ohio and Florida.
• It’s now after nine and the Bulls start to really lay it on. Meanwhile, votes were coming harder and harder to come by for Mitt Romney. In fact, FOX had called Ohio for Obama which nearly made Rove pass right the fuck out. He than spent the better part of at least five minutes not only in a staunch state of denial, but also insisting that they not call Ohio yet until more of the votes were counted. Funny. 12 years ago when he was working for George W Bush he wanted them to stop counting votes in Florida when his guy was winning and now he wants to keep counting and counting and counting.
• As it got closer to 10, it was starting to look like an Obama victory was inevitable. I watched the Daily Show and during one of the commercial breaks, clicked on the other networks to find out that Obama had won. Meanwhile, somewhere in the FOX studio Karl Rove probably ran around frantically looking under tables and chairs for Romney votes while sobbing uncontrollably.
• Knowing what happened in 2000, I wasn’t going to stop watching until both candidates had spoken. On we went though until almost midnight when Romney finally gave his brief, yet gracious concession speech. I can’t blame the guy for waiting; shit after all he was running for president for five years and spent so much time and money that he owed it to himself and his campaign workers to be certain that he lost.
• Finally at about 12:40 A.M. central time, Obama came out and gave a victory speech. At this point, I had been up for over 18 hours and should have probably been tired or ready to fall asleep but for some reason I was wide awake.

So that was my election night. Well not MY election, but how I spent election night. Finally another election has come and gone and it only took two years to pick a winner.

As I write this, we are just hours away from the big day. Yes that’s right it is finally here. Ohhhh, can you feel the excitement in the air. Everybody is pumped. Tomorrow is it. Tomorrow is finally the day when coverage of the 2016 campaign starts! Just like the Super Bowl pregame show, coverage of the elections starts earlier and earlier and earlier. After all didn’t the 2013 Super Bowl pregame show start right around Valentine’s Day this year? I’m convinced that win or lose Mitt Romney is just going to keep campaigning. Shit, the guy has literally been running for president for five fucking years like it is his job. The man is probably conditioned to running. If he wins, he will just continue to run this time for reelection and if he loses, well I don’t know anybody who actually believes him when he says he will not run again if he doesn’t win.

While every single election is pretty damn important, the presidential elections are always vitally important and this one is no different. Some of you are like me and live in a state where your presidential vote will not make a difference. Others live in swing states like Wisconsin or the vitally important Ohio and lucky you, your vote can possibly end up having a big influence on who wins. It is important to remember though that no matter what state you live, there is more to the election than just president. There are plenty of other offices to vote for; plenty that your vote will matter. I live in Illinois, so that means I can vote as many times as I want. I’m going to vote before work, on my lunch, and again after work. And because both of my parents are dead, I get to vote for them as well!

I can sit there and beg you to vote for the candidates I’m supporting but honestly, whether it’s on t.v., radio, the internet, billboards, signs, or mailers, the one thing all of us can agree on is that we have had our fill of people begging you to vote for them. In addition, at this point there is nothing I can possibly say that is going to influence you one way or another. While I certainly have very strong opinions, it is not about me getting you to vote one way or another. It is about you getting out and voting. No matter how you vote or who you vote for the important part is to get out, participate in the democratic process and have an impact and influence on your country, your state, and your community. Look, we have very little say in so much of what goes on. This is one area that we can have a say and can have an influence.

I know we are all sick of campaigns and politics. And I know there is probably nothing in this world as frustrating as politics. Many people have given up on caring. Many have grown apathetic to the cause of politics. Many people have said “fuck them, they don’t care about me so I’m not going to care about them.” Many have said “it doesn’t matter, they are all corrupt anyway”. Many people believe their vote doesn’t matter. And while all of the above arguments can be strongly made, please consider this. First of all, as frustrated as I get, politics are just too important not to follow and not to care. Voting is something that we take for granted in this country. For you females, if this were 100 years ago, you would not be voting in this election. You had to fight for your right to vote and finally got it. The same can be said of many minorities. Also think about other countries. In some countries, there are no elections or voting; it is a dictatorship and they don’t have the option to vote for or against anybody. There are people who are literally dying for the right to vote. There are people who are risking everything just to attempt to vote. While the process here is never-ending, sometimes pointless, and always frustrating, we at least have the option. We have the freedom to stand up and be counted. If you decide not to vote you are essentially taking away that precious right from yourself. Exercise that right. Get out and make a difference.