Give Thanks...For The Opportunity To Cast My Vote

 I voted.

It was early, but I don't know if they have in-person voting in my area, so I took advantage of early voting, made famous by the Covid Pandemic of '22. As the last day to count votes (in most places, anyway...) rapidly approaches, the country has been inundated with ads, pro and con, for and against, red and blue. I hear the word "Democracy" tossed around like a it's the most important word in the country.

It's not...

Even though they act like it is.

Maybe they believe it. Maybe they know our country is not based on a democracy. I think we're going to find out soon.

If we lived in a democracy, then views and policies with the most votes would be law. If the largest group of people wanted to kill all people under 5' tall, it would be legal and it would happen. The Founding Fathers were smarter than that. As a republic, this can't happen--or it will have a tough time happening. A republic protects insanity like this from occurring. This is jr. high school civics stuff here, something we've all been taught.

I suspect millions will feel as though democracy will die on Tuesday, when in fact, it's the very definition of democracy. When all the votes are counted, people will be declared the winners and their opponents, the losers. People will cry out in anguish if they backed the losers. Screams of fraud and deception will ring throughout the land, while cheers and "yahoos" will try and drowned them out. I know this because it's happened before and it will happen again--such is human nature.

It's funny. We will see pure democracy in action and it will be called either a fraud or one-hundred percent accurate. And if past is prologue, all that screaming won't change one mind either way.

Even though there are some bumpy days ahead, as long as I've understood where I lived in comparison to the rest of the world, I've always been grateful for our country, for those wise men and women who risked all for the concept of a free nation, where everyone could fulfill the extent of their dreams. Yes, men and women's hearts have failed them at times, but the dream of America is pure. I'm also grateful I was able to add my voice to millions of others in the pursuit of that dream.