To borrow a quote from David Leonhardt this morning:

To borrow a point Michelle Obama has made to her own children: You don’t let Grandma choose your clothes or your music. Don’t let her choose the future of your country, either.

With the exception of two bond issues, I have voted in every single primary, general and special election since 1992. A big part of that is that I vote absentee, something possible in 37 of 50 states. This means that about three weeks before the election I get a ballot and a voter's guide and can pour myself a nice single-malt scotch, put some Copland on the stereo (Fanfare for the Common Man is great "voting music") and proceed to choose my candidates and ballot positions in an informed and dispassionate fashion. If I'm feeling spunky I can even invite friends and relatives over for pizza and beer and we hash out our decisions in bloc.

Every primary, general and special election since 1992, save two.

I have a friend who remembers that he should probably vote around November 1st every four years. He stands in line for hours. He's very proud when he's done... but he also cooks off half his day. And it's not like he's poor or underrepresented or some shit he owns a million dollar condo in Long Beach and his folx have a house on the hill in Laguna Beach.

But he doesn't have his shit together.

Get your shit together. Guaranteed: your embarassing grandma that still uses the n-word as if it were okay? She has nothing better to do than vote. There are senior organizations that pick her up and spirit her to the booths as if it were a goddamn safari.

The best part is that the minute you're in the system as absentee, your ballot follows you everywhere you go.

Whattaya think - are white people in Florida younger? Or older than other ethnicities?

I am so often amazed by what a maze the US political system seems to be. I voted for the first time last month. I got my voting card in the mail, (without having to ask for it). I brought it to my designated polling place and stood in line for a bit. I voted. I could also have gone to my local library and voted, any day of the week, for like a month prior to the election.

The fact that voting seems to be such an ordeal in america is fucked up.