Our Votes...Not For Sale

This is the final day, the day of decision, of the 2008 Presidential campaign. After today, there will be no more mud-slinging TV ads and armchair political pundits will hash and re-hash. We can hope, here in the Sunshine State, that there will not be a repeat of the fiasco of 2000.

The lady holding the banner in the picture to the left is Susan B. Anthony. She wasn't perky, Barbie-doll pretty or any of the things that come to mind when I think of the GOP vice-presidential candidate. She was a serious, thoughtful and dedicated woman. Some fine women, just like her, were subjected to horrible and inhumane treatment while seeking the right to vote for them and their sisters.

For what these fine women endured, we have a responsibility to vote with our minds and good sense....not our gender. Bastardette has a short, sweet and relevant post on voting day and women. It speaks my mind, as well. I would be doing myself, my sisters and the women who endured the punishing mistreatment that won us our right to vote if my response was a knee-jerk nod to the ticket with a woman on it. A friend of mine who is from Germany said it best. "If I vote for Palin just because she is a woman, that would be like me espousing Hitler just because I am German."

I not only want to encourage everyone to vote, but to vote with thoughtfulness and due consideration of the needs of everyone in our nation. This is a campaign that has been both historical and, sadly, hysterical. My hopes are that we can end it on a positive note.....

Or, I can move to Canada and hope that I can't be seen from Alaska.