November 2, 2004
Rock the Vote! (Or Not)
Quite a few people have asked me to post a message today urging my readers to vote. While I admire those who work to get people voting, I'm not going to preach to anyone about it myself. First of all, if you haven't decided to vote yet, I doubt very much that something you read the morning of the election is going to change your mind (particularly something written by some 21-year-old schmuck who has never voted in his life).
In addition to that, I have no problem with people not voting. On the most basic level, if you don't care enough to vote, you shouldn't. Beyond that, I am of the opinion that the candidates running in any election have a responsibility to convince you to vote for them. If you don't think someone has done that this year, then by all means, don't cast a ballot. And for those who say you should vote against someone, I submit that not voting is doing exactly that. It isn't an either-or proposition, it is giving your vote to someone.
In case you haven't noticed over the past three years, that's about as far into politics as I'll ever get. I avoid politics as a topic here because, more than anything else, it leads to disagreement, arguing, resentment and confrontation. While I'm not against those things a lot of the time, in the case of politics it makes my head hurt. Plus, you don't come here for politics. You come here for baseball, a little poker, maybe a bit about basketball, some stuff on television shows, and a funny story or two.
There is a Chinese buffet near my old neighborhood that I really love, so much so that I still often go to dinner there even though it's completely out of the way. Along with all of the great Chinese dishes they serve, they also have the most awful pizza you've ever seen. It is essentially half-melted cheese on top of a piece of bread. I can't imagine anyone ever going there to eat it, just as I can't imagine anyone ever coming here to read about politics.
And, quite frankly, I'm a lot more interested in the fact that the NBA season starts tonight than I am about any election. I do, however, highly recommend the General Tsao's chicken.
Today at The Hardball Times:
- The Meat Market: First Basemen (by Aaron Gleeman)
- Cash in the Cradle: The Bonus Babies (by Steve Treder)
