From the Facebook Page of My Friend Robin Williams
November 7, 2012
Friends and family, my dad told me when I was 11 years old
we'd need to move, and that his business would soon be shut down. He said the
world as I knew it would be over. I was scared for months. Well, the world
didn't end, and my dad chose to retire from that same business almost 20 years
later. I do think local and national government needs to get back to talking
about something they seem to avoid-the economy. I will exercise my rights to
push our local and national representatives to focus on the economy. Right now,
I'm missing my Alaskan friends (Ernst/Tauriainen) who taught us how to fight
about politics, enjoy a good dinner, and sing Glenn Miller songs arm in arm at
the end of the night.
I'm posting a status that was borrowed from a reflective, civil, Libertarian friend, who borrowed it from William Pace.
William Pace:
I'm posting a status that was borrowed from a reflective, civil, Libertarian friend, who borrowed it from William Pace.
William Pace:
I voted early in this election.
To do this I got into my car and drove less than a mile to a public location. I did not drive through military checkpoints. I was not harassed by live gunfire or falling shells. I did not pass under the menacing eye of manned towers or past entrenched gun emplacements. There were no armed factions waiting to dissuade me or threaten my life. I was not treated differently due to religion, political persuasion or gender. I was not asked to show a federal passport or papers. I was not asked to pay a bribe or asked to turn out my pockets. I was not searched, stopped or questioned (apart from verifying my identity as a free citizen for voting purposes). I stepped into a private booth and exercised my rights unmolested to choose the leader of my country, state, and so on down through the ranks, top to bottom.
I left with a sticker and a clear conscience.
Some of the representatives I voted for won and some of them did not. This happened without the storm front of a vengeful God rolling over the nation. This happened without torch bearing hordes taking to the streets. This happened without locusts or frogs. This happened without shock troops kicking in my door.
This was a free election. Free of explosions. Free of genocide. Just free to choose.
Some of you may talk of secession or emigration, because you didn't 'get your way', but remember…you'll be leaving a free country for whatever awaits you elsewhere.
I get to vote my conscience again in few years.
To do this I got into my car and drove less than a mile to a public location. I did not drive through military checkpoints. I was not harassed by live gunfire or falling shells. I did not pass under the menacing eye of manned towers or past entrenched gun emplacements. There were no armed factions waiting to dissuade me or threaten my life. I was not treated differently due to religion, political persuasion or gender. I was not asked to show a federal passport or papers. I was not asked to pay a bribe or asked to turn out my pockets. I was not searched, stopped or questioned (apart from verifying my identity as a free citizen for voting purposes). I stepped into a private booth and exercised my rights unmolested to choose the leader of my country, state, and so on down through the ranks, top to bottom.
I left with a sticker and a clear conscience.
Some of the representatives I voted for won and some of them did not. This happened without the storm front of a vengeful God rolling over the nation. This happened without torch bearing hordes taking to the streets. This happened without locusts or frogs. This happened without shock troops kicking in my door.
This was a free election. Free of explosions. Free of genocide. Just free to choose.
Some of you may talk of secession or emigration, because you didn't 'get your way', but remember…you'll be leaving a free country for whatever awaits you elsewhere.
I get to vote my conscience again in few years.
1 comment:
Also from FaceyFace... I thought was very thought provoking...
About 170 years ago the Latter-day Saints (mormons) were massacred in droves, raped and pillaged, their prophet murdered, and the entire population forced from their homes at the point of cannon to flee into the desolate Great Basin, actions sanctioned by local, state, and federal government, where they were persecuted there after for decades.
About 170 years ago African-Americans were bought, sold, and owned as property, barred from deciding their own fates, abused by so-called "masters", families torn apart generation after generation, and restricted from the most basic human rights, living in shackles suffering under some of the most degrading conditions imaginable.
Last night in 2012 I watched a presidential election between a Latter-day Saint and an African-American. Both of their running mates are religious minorities in this country. Its a tribute to how far we have really come.
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