The advertising campaigns have picked-up speed, and the heavy media coverage will only increase until next week – Election Day.

Have you registered to vote? Have you chosen your candidate?

I have, and I’m voting for…

Yes, thankfully we have the right to a private ballot in the United States. Our political choices are our own, without risk of repercussion.

Some people wear their candidate picks like a fashion statement, while others choose to remain mum on their choice. I fall into that latter group.

I’ve been accused of being embarrassed by my choice, and had folks tell me that I should openly declare my support, since I have the opportunity to share my knowledge and sway the vote of someone. I’ve even had the choices of others rammed down my throat until I have wanted to scream, “definitely not that candidate, as I don’t think I could stand to hear that name again!” (Not a mature, rational decision, but I start to push back when I feel like I’m being forced to feel or think a certain way.)

Truthfully, it has nothing to do with embarrassment, and I have no desire to sway other voters, since I like to see people think for themselves.

If I truly admired a candidate beyond belief, and thought that candidate was the greatest possible leader ever, I might change my opinion, but I just haven’t been enamored with any politician, yet. Not ever. And even if I disagree completely with one choice or the other, I have a hard time endorsing the other option just out of spite.

I’ve always been more conservative than liberal, but at the same time I’ve never done straight-party voting, as I usually completely disagree with someone or something in one of the parties. And I always term myself as the liberal conservative (not to be mistaken with the conservative liberal ).

Do you really need to know my opinion, and is my opinion the one that is swaying you? If it is, I find that scary. I find it even scarier if you are swayed to vote for a party just by who is endorsing them, be they famous or someone you know and admire.

If you are voting, I hope you’ve taken the time to look past the talking heads on TV and the phony smiles in the newspapers, and have researched the issues important to you – not the issues important to the Hollywood stars or musicians you admire, or the issues important to an organization you belong to – the issues important to you alone.

I don’t need to know who you are voting for – I just hope you are exercising your right to vote and voting. Or, if you aren’t voting, that you have valid reasons, not because you “don’t care,” since you feel “my decision won’t count.”

To the new president, whomever that person is, I wish him well in his four-year term, as the world is watching and we, the people of the United States, expect a lot from our new leader.

RC – Rambling Along…

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