Early Voting: The Great American Ripoff – Unless…
by John Weckerle
Yesterday after work, my wife and I went to the Edgewood fire station to exercise our constitutional right to participate in government. We cast our votes for the candidates of our choice, and went out for pizza to celebrate a successful conclusion to our involvement in this year’s elections.
Our elation was to be short-lived, however. When I arrived home this evening, the television was already on – and when the first commercial break came on, I discovered the horrible truth…
They’re still there.
What, pray tell, is still there? The multitude of attack ads, complete with unflattering, doctored photos; vilification; personal attacks; disinformation; misinformation; and misdirection. Everything I thought I was leaving behind when I voted was still right there in my living room. The only other thing that seems to get through are prescription drug commercials and those idiotic Alltel ads – and maybe a Geico ad here and there. Not even the ones with the gecko, though; just the caveman spots. Phooey.
Suddenly I realized: Early voting is a ripoff unless we all do it, and fast. That’s why I want EVERYBODY who hasn’t already voted to get out there and do so tomorrow. If all the campaign organizations realize that more or less everybody in New Mexico has already voted, they’ll stop buying ad time, and we can go back to the blissfully monotonous attempts to sell us automobiles, frighten us with the fiberglass-headed Burger King, or convince us that Coke tastes a little less like malted battery acid* than Pepsi.
I’m John Weckerle, and I approve this message. Yeesh.
*With thanks to Berke Breathed’s Bloom County.
2 Responses “Early Voting: The Great American Ripoff – Unless…”
My “sentimentals” exactly.
Nuff sed
John,
I had to come back and share with you that some 2700 folks cast their ballot early at the fire station acccording to one of the poll workers.
I don’t know the previous tallies during a presidential early vote, but I bet this was a record.
Probably not a good presage for my choices.. ;>)