Glem ikke at stemme

This post probably doesn't apply to about half of you, but for those who, like me, live in the US of A -- please remember that tomorrow (Tuesday, November 4th) is election day, and you had better vote. If, also like me, you live in Oregon, where we vote by mail, please don't mail your ballot now; it won't arrive in time. Instead, take it to one of the drop boxes listed here.

This election cycle, I haven't really been very active or vocal with politics; I did a lot more in 2004, when I wasn't even old enough to vote. However, I feel that this may be an even more important election than the last one, and so, even though an mp3 blog probably isn't the most appropriate venue, it's my venue, and I can say whatever I like, so I'm going to talk about politics for a little while now.

I'll be brief, though. I'm only going to discuss the presidential race. Even if you don't cast a vote for anyone or anything else, please make the effort and vote for a new President of the United States. It is worth the effort of filling in a bubble, pressing a button, or punching out a chad (punch it all the way), so that the country will maybe not embark on a nuclear war or escalate in Iraq, so that I (and numerous others) can maybe afford to have and be able to acquire health insurance, so that the world's most militarily powerful nation can have a vice president whose most compelling political credential isn't the fact that she can see Russia from her house. (I mean, has anyone ever thought of this -- Sarah Palin's neighbors can probably see Russia from their houses, too. Does that make them qualified to be Vice President of the United States? No it does not.)

I shouldn't have to say which candidate I'm endorsing. It should be incredibly obvious who everyone's choice should be. But forty percent of the American public is still saying, in polls, that they plan on voting for John McCain, and a small segment of the population is still undecided. So I'll make an endorsement, but first I'll say this -- no one we elect is going to be perfect. No one is going to fix everything that is wrong with America. But, given a choice between working on digging out of the hole or miring further in, why, oh why, would anyone choose to get worse when there's the opportunity to do better?

Please, when you vote for President of the United States, make the better choice -- the intelligent choice -- the right choice. Vote Barack Obama.