No, I totally get the difference. What I am saying is that it's sad that people not only vote against their *own* betterment, but against the betterment of the lives of others. Make sense?

Yes, totally. I know lots of people who don't realize that the Those People the Romney party is talking about is THEM. I don't want to call them idiots (oh, of course I do, I'm just being nice) but they do seem to be existing in a state of perpetual denial and self-delusion.

Well their priorities are wrong and they should feel bad. They should wake up the day after they voted, and think, "What the fuck was I thinking? I don't hate women. Why did I do that? Jesus, I suck." And then they should feel queasy all day and have a restless sleep for two weeks, getting haggard and red-eyed. And when they try to tell their friends that they were sorry they should face scorn! "Too fucking late now, man! Too fucking late." And they should not be invited to parties and sit alone at home trying to play Halo but nobody wants to play with them. Because of the shunning and the scorn.

I'll put you down as "undecided".

My dad says global warming isn't a problem because it's happened before.

And it caused mass extinctions! You know what else has happened before? Asteroids slamming into the Earth. I don't care if there's precedent, I am open to a "no to asteroids slamming into the Earth" platform. Is it too late to get it on the ballot in California?

If Florida goes blue I'll pee.

I think there is going to be 1 surprise and I am thinking FL might be the surprise. The demographics are a bit different there than in 2008 and I think Obama can pull that shit out.

As a Virginia resident, I am not as confident about Virginia going blue as some people are.

That's the one, and I was planning to vote OH HELL NO.

The touch screen didn’t have an OH HELL button, but I felt it was implied in my vote.

Check it, apparently a judge may rule that ballots need to be handcounted in OH because of the software "patch" installation on certain machines by the SoS.

Oh, dear. This could be a long nightmare if it comes down to Ohio.

I have no actual skin in this game past my lifetime but I want us to do something good. How am I the outlier here?

Ugh. Yes! I know! Even though I think humanity is doomed I am fond of many of the children I know. I rather not completely screw them over.

And it caused mass extinctions! You know what else has happened before? Asteroids slamming into the Earth. I don't care if there's precedent, I am open to a "no to asteroids slamming into the Earth" platform. Is it too late to get it on the ballot in California?

HA! Living in California for seven years makes that last sentence SO MUCH FUNNIER to me than the whole thing already was.

Can you leave a space on a ballot unmarked? Because my US Rep options are a tool and kind of incompetent, respectively, and I don't want either of them in office.

(Kevin Yoder is the tool, BTW. HELL. NO.)

I vote against "MY" interest because I strongly believe that I am not the center of the fucking universe.

Exactly!

As for your cousins' opinions, well, there's also the tribalism thing. Tribal associations outweigh logic nearly every time. It's not that they think their vote will hurt anyone, it's that "their people" know that the world is better off if those people on welfare are forced to go back to work.

So that's the way they vote, in order to keep in good standing with "their people". And if you show them a blind study prepared by a non-partisan group refuting that assertion, they'll claim it's just the biased liberal media making up facts again.

Takes a lot to deny what all the people in your social unit are telling you is true, especially when we can now tailor our media experiences to match just what we want to hear.

So, what I am saying is that I often vote for thing thing that is going to require more money from me. Because it's the fucking right thing to do as a member of this country that I do love.

I just had to put this there because yes, exactly.

Which is why I read through all the propositions, and sometimes vote for stupid ones, because I think they are best for the human race.

If I thought voting was all about me the world would be very different. As in more, pie, more kitties, less pollen and possibly a dimmer on the sun some mornings. and no talking before 10am . Less complaining.

Beth, I love your last paragraph. :-)