Must I Vote?

It has been several years since I felt really good about the presidential election. Why is that? Must I vote?

Each four years both major candidates are probably good and decent, by current  standards. Every once in a while one breaks the mold, but generally these are people who have given their lives in public service. We should respect and honor such folk. We need more of them. 

One of my litmus tests for a President is that they be a good example to children. When my kids were little I wanted them to be able to look at Reagan, or Bush I or Clinton or Bush II as people they should be like. Not that they would agree with all their policies. More as like a father figure to the nation. A man of honor, trustworthy, loyal to America, faithful, credible, devout. 

I  still hold to this standard. I don't think it is a particularly high or unfair standard. I'd like a President that is an example to my granddaughters and grandsons on what a good man is like. One that reinforces the example of their own fathers, and not one that contradicts that example.  

Years ago I thought that in such situations it is good to vote for the least bad of two choices. That is wrong. I must not vote if I believe a candidate is bad, regardless of the degree of badness of the other fella. 

In truth, I do not know these men. Had I a day to spend alone with each of them, which one would I select to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" ? (Alternatively, which one would I enjoy spending a day fishing with? In my lifetime, as I think about the nominees of the major parties, the ones I would like to fish with are Eisenhower, Goldwater, Humphrey, McGovern, Carter, Bush I, Dole, Gore, Bush II, Clinton II.  They all seem like normal people that you wouldn't have to continually engage in conversation. They could just sit in the boat and not need the noise of human mouths, or whine about who forgot the sunscreen. Some years I skipped, sorry Nixon and JFK. But I digress. ) 

I will not have that opportunity so my only choice is to take them at their word. I will assume that both believe exactly what they have said and that there is no intentional falsehood in their words. 

Their political parties do not make this easy. The party I most identify with rejects the beliefs I hold most dear. The party I could inch toward, masquerades as an arm of the local, water-body-named, evangelical church. Neither party is comfortable with orthodox Catholicism. 

I have a right to vote, meaning I get to decide. Do I have responsibility to do so? Yeah I guess. Voting is a way of telling the world that I endorse our form of self government. To vote breathes a little life into it, makes it stronger. 

Do I have an obligation to vote? That is a bit stronger term. Am I obliged? Meaning if I don't vote, do I believe I have done something wrong? Do I owe my country this form of allegiance? I have pledged my allegiance many many times before you my fellow citizens. I have done so in schools and in the public square. I have done so without thinking too much about it. My motives were not always pure. I often pledged my allegiance simply to fit in, to be one of us, heck yeah i'm an American. Just like you. Hand on my heart, hat off my head, yes sir. 

So am I going to vote, just like I promised? Probably. I may not feel good about it but my feelings are largely my fault. When I was a political activist I loved voting. I mean it. Like lay awake at night on election eve, liked it. Be the first in line at the polls, liked it. Wear candidate button to the polls, liked it. That was because I knew the guys on the ballot. I didn't need their ads. I knew what they really believed and what they were like on the weekends and in their homes. That part of my life is over but I'm going to do my best to take that attitude with me to the voting booth. 

That I pledge.