Exercise your right

In case you've been sleeping under a rock for the past year and half you probably know this is an election year. I'd like to dedicate this blog to encouraging you all to go out and exercise your right to vote. It always makes me mad when young people, my peers, don't vote. How do you ever think things will change if you don't stand up and make your voice heard? You probably think that your one vote won't make a difference but when you combine 100, 500, 1,000 people who think their "one vote" won't count you can see how it can easily add up.

This country is at a cross road right now. Things aren't good. Its our job to help elect the next leader of our country who can, hopefully, turn us in the right direction and get us out of the mess that we're currently in.

Along with the presidential election, there are also a lot of local elections going on. I think a lot of people don't give a lot of thought to the local elections. I didn't always. But, now that I'm a homeowner I pay a lot more attention to who is running for local office. If you own a home, pay taxes, shop or work in your city/town you'll want to pay attention to the local election too. These are the people who will be making the rules in YOUR hometown. Don't you want to pick the person that makes those rules? They could have a say on how much your home is worth, how much tax you'll have to pay, what kind of businesses will be allowed in your town, what kind of homes can be built, and what they can do with the vacant land. I have to live here and I'd like to have a say in what they can and can't do here.

But, you know, more than going out to the polls to cast your vote its also very important to research the candidates and find out what they stand for. I'm not here to push an opinion on anyone. It is completely your choice who to vote for. I like to read up on each candidate to see which one matches my beliefs and feelings the best. Don't just go into vote and "Christmas Tree" the ballot. What good does that do?

I'm going to post links to a couple of important websites I think you should all check out. Give them a good hard look and really think about what is important to YOU. And, by all means, get your ass to the polls and vote!!

If you haven't registered to vote yet, there is still time. The primary elections are on August 26 and the general election is November 4. Check out the deadlines for registration in your state here: http://www.rockthevote.com/voting-is-easy/important-dates/

Presidential election:
http://www.johnmccain.com/
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

For all my readers in Central Florida here is a link for the local elections:
http://www.cfnews13.com/Features/FloridaDecides/BrevardCounty.aspx

If you're interested in reading about women's suffrage and what our fore mothers went through so that we'd have the right to vote today you can read up on it here: http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=1286