I voted today

I voted for change today.

Voting is the cleverest way I can think of to voice my opinion on the status quo.

It’s cleverer than fancy words; it is action.

It is more courageous than resting on the safety of the established hierarchy and apologizing for it.

It is more courageous than accepting to the status quo as is, while its representatives ostracize, demean, polarize, and disfranchise vulnerable people in this system:  the poor; people of color; women; the physically and mentally challenged.

It occurred to me this morning in the shower that something as simple as the treat of a shower is denied many people because of our 21^st century US war policies.  

Policies advocated by the conservative think tank “Project for a New American Century” circa 1997. 

Policies pursued by both establishment political parties.

As I rode to work I thought how the gasoline that fuels my vehicle was purchased through the bounty of those policies:  steep military spending has made us unrivaled as a superpower in the world;  regime change at will means we rule this world by fear;  sometimes dubious acts of terror against us damages our credibility in the eyes of the world and casts doubt in some minds at home; and wars based on “faulty intelligence” have us confused between supporting our sons and daughters who can’t find jobs so they join the service, and voicing our disdain against the causes for them being put in harm’s way.  Causes seemingly far removed from Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

This is the status quo in America.

Change for the better is dangerous; but it is not cynical or ungrateful.  It simply upsets the status quo; even talk of change does.

I hope my vote influences so called representatives and senators at the state and national levels to pass laws that benefit the many as opposed to the few; or causes judges at the federal, district, state, and local levels to interpret the law more in line with the spirit of the self-evident truths described in the Declaration of Independence as opposed to corporate ideology.

I didn’t write in any candidate (except for me in one local election):  if a candidate wanted my vote his or her name would be on the ballot.

I voted for positive change to this, one of the potentially greatest civilizations in world history. 

Because we cannot rest in greatness lest we stagnate and rot.