We have all asked that question. Today is election day once again, and for the last two weeks we have watched and listened to campaign ads that lie, lie, lie on both sides of the aisle. I heard a blurb today on the radio that some fact check organization found that most ads have a “kernel” of truth but are, by and large, lies or factoids taken out of context or contorted until they can only be said to allude to some possible truth.

Some people just don’t bother to vote, are disgusted with it all, and I don’t blame them. I struggle with that almost every election, as if by voting I am conspiratorial with the scumbags who are supposedly running this country in our best interests. My friends and family know I carry this ambivalence with me most of the time. Amazed that folks on the right or the left can be so sure that their side is 100% good and true and the other side is 100% evil and false, I refuse to get involved in political discussions and voting is an extension of my lack of desire to participate in such a polarized discussion. Voting for one or the other politician is always a decision I make once I’m in the privacy of the voting booth, and it is often based on nothing more than the mood I’m in. That sounds so awful, but it is no worse than those who vote based on the emotional reaction they have to falsehoods spewed out of the TV. It is a little different with the propositions in California – they affect us directly and it is easier for me to state where I stand on the issues after weighing the pros and cons of the actual propositions. There’s at least half a chance for making the right choice, although the ramifications are never really known until after they become law.

Here are just a few of the reason why I vote, though: Idi Amin, Adolf Hitler, Sadaam Hussein, Pol Pot, Kim Jung Il, Fidel Castro. And those are just at the top of my head. Didn’t like W? Guess what – he’s GONE. Don’t think Obama’s doing a great job? Guess what – you can resurrect Hillary or make your case for your favorite Republican. Here in California is it easy to be cynical – Gray Davis, replaced by Ah-nold, who will be replaced by Meg or Jerry? You gotta be kidding me! But one of the these days, because we keep voting, because we keep protesting, because we keep listening, because we keep arguing with each other, but finally because we have faith in the system, we may vote for a woman or man who can change the state or the country or the world with their leadership. Most of us and our leaders are schmucks, but once in a great while, greatness ascends. If you’re one of the lucky ones who saw it coming, and voted for that person, you can hold your head high knowing YOU made a difference. If you didn’t, you can still hold your head high knowing you were part of the process, by your previous involvement and committment to our system of casting ballots, in guiding us to the point where such a person could be elected.

Today, for some, it is too late – they are so disgusted by the ugliness we experience during this pre-election wasteland they are letting it pass them by, and I understand this. I used to be the same way. Now I cannot let these election days pass by without going out there and doing the best I can. Every election period I tell myself I am going to turn off the TV and head to the voting records and speeches and study the actions of the candidates in detail and at the primary sources, instead of letting their paid lackeys tell me about them. Then suddenly it is election day and I am left to my own devices. I figure it all balances out the way it should, and that in the end the elections may only be a referendum on what the majority is thinking about where we want to go. That is ever changing, ever evolving, as our little country moves forward into time, its ideal of liberty and justice for all dragging its sorry ass to the voting booth one election at a time.