Vote, Votey, Vote, VOTE!

I won't say who (or what) I'm voting for, or what you should. Your politics, beliefs, and morals are your own. But please, go vote today!

People say that voting is an American "right." Now, I'm not much of a constitutional law scholar. Hell, my ConLaw prof would probably confide in you that I skipped most all of his lectures (not because I'm lazy or hate ConLaw, both of which are true statements, but because his politics drastically clashed with mine and it made me a little bonkers to sit through his sermons....er....lectures). However, voting may technically be a right conferred on some groups who were initially denied the right to vote, but it originated as a duty. Landed white dudes were *supposed* to vote. It was an obligation. Black folks and women though? Not so much. For them it was a right denied, an obligation not permitted to be fullfilled. Because, you see, regardless of how long some of us had to wait for the "right" to vote, we've always had an obligation to do so.

Our system may be a flawed one. It may be one where we feel our voices are drowned out by special interests, the rich, lobbyists, whoever else you want to pin our unhappiness on. But the truth is that it's *our* system. Less than 100 years ago, women in America were being jailed in inhuman conditions for daring to challenge the laws prohibiting our right to vote. They gave their lives, not just so we could vote, but so we could hold public office, vote, and even sit on juries. Women in other nations around the world are still working towards the right to vote.

So whether I vote Ass or Elephant, Liberal or Conservative, I vote because it's my duty as an American Woman. I vote to fulfill my obligation to my nation. I vote to honor the women who walked a hard road so I could have the "right."