Political work snafu!

If you don't know me, mellow or apathetic are two pretty decent adjectives. So, believing my vote doesn't matter wouldn't surprise anyone.

It sure as heck surprised some coworkers. For the rest of that lunch hour, I was trapped. Literally. I always sit on the far side of the table, and it would have been rude to leave suddenly. So, I sat and listened to their arguments for the importance of voting.

I wasn't swayed. None of their arguments really made sense. A few were actually in favor of my opinion, which stopped them short.

What I came to realize was this:

Elections are becoming more and more about branding. What's the better brand? Obama or McCain? They're not sitting down and describing remedies for our problems. Instead, these candidates are using advertising 101 to get votes. Repetition. How many times have we heard the word, "hope" from Obama?

Can we please have a reason for why we should believe in this thing called hope?

No. It's complicated.

Anyway, back to my voting thing. I'm not against it. Obviously, nothing would happen if everyone felt the way I feel. In order for my vote to count though, I would have to literally recruit thousands of nonvoters to vote. I don't have that kind of time.

Now, if everything was equal and everyone voted, then yes, it would matter. Please, spare me the, "there are people all over the world who would give an arm and a leg to vote," shpeel. Good for them.

Besides, I'd write in Colbert anyway. That's at least giving in to my right to vote.

...then those coworkers would tell me I'm throwing my vote away...