Election Wrap-Up

AANNNNDDDD... I'm back!  I'm not even going to attempt to explain why this blog was abandoned for over 2 months, I'm just jumping right back in!

As expected, this year's presidential election was HUGE.  Monumental.  Historic.  And the cause of many arguments, much nastiness, and quite a bit of Facebook smack-talk and de-friending.  And to that I say... grow up and get over yourself.  As I have every year since I was legally able, I stood in line and voted like the proud American I am.  I voted for a presidential candidate, a congressional candidate and quite a few other races on my local ballot.  Some of my people won, some did not.  I accepted it and went on with life.  I did not post any status updates on Facebook gloating about "my wins" or bad-mouthing those who voted for "the other guys."  I did not threaten to relocate my family to another city, state or country because the outcome may not have been exactly what I wanted.  And I did not delete anybody from my friends list on Facebook, because I don't have any friendships that are built on political beliefs.  (Although I will admit I did remove a few from my newsfeed.  I still love ya, but I don't want to see all your negativity.  See people?!  That's how you do it!)

Now with that being said, I will admit that I am concerned about our future.  I have never gone into an election with such uncertainty about who I was going to vote for.  (I didn't decide on some of the races until I was driving to my polling place.)  It bothers me (a lot) that I did not feel 100% confident in voting for either major Presidential candidate.  I am more than a little frightened for my children's future and what will be awaiting them as they become adults.  I am concerned about how I will provide them with the childhood I have always dreamed for them when our country is in such a state of chaos.  And I am a tiny bit worried about how our family will manage on a day-to-day basis if this trend continues.

But more than any of those feelings, Election Day 2012 made me PROUD.  What's that, you say?  Do those two terms even go hand-in-hand after all this??  Yes, and let me tell you why.

For starters, voter turn-out was so high that several places ran out of ballots.  Northern Kentucky was predicting a 70% turnout and they still ran out!  Amazing!  Now I will say, I will never understand why we don't have 100% turn-out every November, but that is an argument for another time.  We'll take what we can get.  Baby steps.  It makes me proud that so many Americans feel so strongly about our current state and our future that they took the time to DO SOMETHING about it.  Don't just sit on your couch (or computer) and complain!

Secondly, I am so very, very proud of my children.  Growing up I'm certain I had no idea who was running for any elected office until I was in my teens.  Nor did I really care.  Now in many parts of the country, our county included, the polling places set up a "Kids Voting USA" booth.  Kids can stop by and cast their private ballots, this year voting on the Presidential Race, the local Congressional race and 3 "issues" that were exclusive to the kids' ballots: Does your school do enough to prevent bullying?  Do you think e-books should replace traditional text books in the classroom?  Do you think the government should ban super-sized soft drinks? 

(I will stop here to say that Brandon and I have talked to the kids about the election and who is running and a little about what the candidates stand for.  But we have not pushed our opinions on them in the least and we didn't even tell them who we were voting for until Monday night.) 

So we arrive at the local elementary school to vote.  My 2 older kids were SO excited to vote!  So excited that they voted before I did.  Lucas (4 years) made his Presidential and Congressional selections based on the photos of the candidates.  While he didn't really understand a lot of the issues, he recognized each candidate by picture and was able to put an X in the box of those he had told me he was going to vote for.  I read the 3 issues to him and he firmly told me his answer and marked his X's.  Ella (7 years) came in with her mind made up on all items on the ballot and voted as such.  She had told me the reasons she was selecting the people she did and she had a thought process behind each of her selections on the Issues.  What a proud Momma I was!!

So while the Election madness may not have brought out the best in everybody, it wasn't all bad.  My kids were shown once again how important it is stand up for what you believe and take advantage of the wonderful priveledge we have to vote.  Witnessing their little minds work through the selection process has made me hopeful for their future.  One little baby step at a time, this world will become a better place.