Choice

Day 32: Warning: the following editorial may raise the dander of certain members of my audience. It is not intended to be provocatve, but rather thought-provoking, and it is not my intention to open a debate with my readers, merely to express a personal viewpoint which they may not have otherwise considered.

I am arguably one of the most apolitical beings on the planet, although I do hold strong opinions on matters of ecological importance and access to public lands. Indeed, I seldom know what is taking place in the political scene until it has come and gone, leaving me to deal with the consequences as they touch me on a personal level. That said, I vote in every election, despite the fact that I do not feel my nickel counts for much when stacked against the enormity of dollars which go into the process of selecting candidates whose names have been unknown to me until they appeared in print in the Voters' Pamphlets delivered in my mail. The issues which concern me never make those pages.

I read the pros and cons of each amendment, initiative and resolution, and diligently plow through the legalese of the full text so that I may be as informed as I might be without having been misled by proponents or opponents of one side or the other, and then I make my choice. Often as not, it seems to me that I am being asked what type of onion I want on my hamburger without the slightest consideration for the fact that I might not want onions at all.