Election Festivites

Woo! Elections! Convenient that they always happen the same year as the Olypmics. It is not confusing AT ALL for a country to come together and cheer on their athletes for a month then choose sides down political boundaries and yell at each other for the next three months. Politics make me uncomfortable and queasy, and I usually assume the fetal position and put my fingers in my ears when the topic comes up at lunch.

I know I'm not the most "informed" citizen. But I'm willing to admit that. I know that I would much rather watch Nickelodeon and ABC than any of the news channels. But, being an American and wanting to exercise the right that so many people have fought tirelessly for me to attain, I made it a point to get informed, read up on the candidates and show up at the polls on Tuesday. I voted, wore my sticker proudly, and promptly pushed all political thoughts, news and posts out of mind.

But seeing as my friends can turn any event into a reason for celebration and I am never one to turn down good food and wine with great people, Tuesday night I made the trip to Davidson to watch the election results with a few coworkers. I expected us to huddle around the TV and carry on light conversations as the results came in, cheering when certain states leaned a certain way. What I didn't expect was a full-blown election party complete with decorations, two TV screens and blank maps to color.

Lauren's Donkey Deocrations

Lauren bought the "Democrat Package" which was a ton of decorations with donkeys and no elephants to be found. (Needless to say she and most of the other people at the party were nothing-short-of-outspoken Democrats.) There were streamers and table decorations and Lauren sported a red, white and blue cowboy hat. To make the evening complete, they had printed out blank maps and gathered an assortment of red and blue markers. As the results came in, we colored in the state with red or blue depending on the results.

The coloring maps with the first few states colored in.

I keep a mental list of things I want to do "better" and being more informed about politics is one of them. I am consistently surrounded by both Republicans and Democrats and people who claim to be Independent though 9 times out of 10 they always vote the same way. I didn't cheer for any states in particular nor did I cheer for any candidate as the results came pouring in. In fact, coloring was the highlight of my evening and I left their house before the victory and concession speeches started. (Probably not the best way to become more informed.) However, I am proud of myself for actually reading up on the candidates and forming my own opinion rather than going in blindly based on the opinions and views of my friends and family.

Will I talk about the election or the candidates after this week? Probably not. A lot of the big "issues" don't concern me and don't affect me at this point in time which I think is directly related to my lack of interest in general. Regardless, I voted and plan to vote again in four years and again after that because the right to vote is something I know is both a responsibility and a privilege for living in a free country. Not about to give that up any time soon.