Voting

I did research last night on who to vote for in today's election.  It is sad that it took me so long to do any research.  I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even know who was running.  My television stations run New York and Pennsylvania commercials and that doesn't help me in the middle of New Jersey.  The websites for the candidates aren't that helpful for they are just another expensive advertisement.  How do we chose who to vote for?  Do we vote for the person who we think will vote most like us?  Do we vote for the person who seems strong and will stand up for his/her beliefs?  Or do we vote for the personality, the one who has a more polished website and better photographer for this person knows how the game of politics is played?  Or maybe I vote like a Yogi and try to find the candidate whose values are most focused on peace and compassion.  I was impressed with the Green party candidate for this reason, although I never heard of him, his website was not as high tech and I know that he doesn't have a chance of winning.  So do I not vote for him because it is like throwing a vote away?  It reminds me of the time I almost voted for Nader.  I do wish we had a system that wasn't focused on just two parties.  I feel many of us aren't happy with either one.  But it doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.  I read that other countries have many parties on the ballot.  Why is it that in America we have to boil everything down to smaller, quicker, easier to put on a sound bite?  Anyway, I couldn't sleep last night for my mind was going around and around these questions.  "What would Guruji do?"  That is what I came up with.  I decided to meditate on it before I went out to vote.  I take the voting process very seriously ever since I saw the mini series John Adams.  When I saw how much they sacrificed for the future generations so that we could live in a free society, and saw how they agonized over the right wording for posterity, I started to take our responsibilities more seriously.  I want the founding fathers and mothers to be proud of what we've become.  Until I find a more active role that interests me in the political arena, what I have to give back is the pressing of electronic light up buttons behind a curtain.  And I'll do it proudly for so many in other countries and even in our own find that the road just to cast a vote is a struggle.  And so I vote for them. 

Hope you remembered to vote. 

Om Shanti.