Democracy Now!

As you may know I have lived void of television for several years now.  While I'm not morally opposed to the boob tube for it's content and devaluation of the 'American family', I live said life as a protest to the business model of cable and paying for the privilege to have my life periodically interrupted by overly enthusiastic c-list actors and actresses trying to summon my consumption for things like 'the blowout KIA event of the year'!  As part of my divorce from the babble box I have also been insulated from political ads that pepper the fall programing during any election year.  As I sat watching a come to Jesus ad for the 'original Maverick' (McCain), which interrupted last nights Olympics, something quite profound dawned on me.  I have yet to ever vote for a presidential candidate that ended up in the White house.   Now granted, at the ripe age of 27 (I just turned) this will only be my third presidential election that I will have voted in, but none the less, the above observation burns a bit of an apathetic hole in my enthusiasm for the democratic process.  The past two elections, and I'm quite proud to admit this, I voted democrat and can honestly plead the fifth for what happened to our country since.  2000 election my vote aligned with the masses in which Al Gore won the popular vote.  However, thanks to our pals in the electoral college as well as some support from a southern boy named Jeb, GW made his way to Pennsylvania Avenue to begin his reign.  In 2004 the only votes that mattered in that election were those from Ohio in which the Republican party convinced Howard Dean and John Kerry there was no need for an audit.  

"We're quite confident it all worked out the way of the people"- Karl Rove.  

"This is a great day for human rights, health care, education policy, Iraq relations, our continually deployed troops mothers, wives and new born's, the economy, same sex marriages, stem cell research, domestic spending, and the environment."  - Dick Cheney

"Has anyone seen my hat?  No, not that one, the one that I was wearing when I was on my ranch vacationing during 9-11.  Yes, the one that I had on the day I decided it was time for some good ole Texas jihad (pronounced 'gee-had') on those Iraqi's (pronounced: 'e-rack-ees')" - GWB

Enter 2008.  Time for another 'historic' vote.  For me it will be yet another year of my vote not counting.  I will be stationed abroad on the southern shores of Sweden when it comes time to punch my chad.  I'll be voting absentee in a process know informally as the 'if we need your vote we'll send the interns out to the mailbox and they can count them if they get a minute'.  Now, while traditionally this dynamic would have heightened my complacency towards the November circus, this year is different.  I really feel this is the first time in my lifetime where the person I say I want in the white house will end up there (despite my say not being heard). With any luck, enough peers from my generation that have been equally disappointed by their lifetimes politics will turn out to ensure this country finally bucks the trend and can feel as though we have a say in the direction this country is headed.  Now, any chance you all can have that deficit paid off before I get back to US soil?