Dissapointing

On a side note from our vacation...you won't hear my political views very often, but I voted in the Iowa Caucuses tonight. It was my first Caucus. I'm Republican, so there wasn't a Republican Caucus 4 years ago, and before that, I'm sad to say I just wasn't interested.

Well, it seems I wasn't alone. I was quite disappointed in 2 things. First, in the local advertising. Maybe I just didn't look very hard, but I ended up going online to see where my vote would be cast. Also, I knew it started at 7 pm, but I thought it was like a general election...come and go. The plan was for me to go and vote, and then Brandy to go and vote after I got back. But you had to be there and stay there. So I didn't "come back." Had we known, we might have gotten a sitter and both gone at the same time.

This seems to be a big event in the US. All eyes (well, lots of eyes) were on Iowa tonight. I talked to some relatives today who weren't able to go because of basketball games out of town. Shouldn't an event "this big" cause the local high schools not to have games? I spoke with a gal originally from California. She was in CA over the holidays and lots of people were talking about the Iowa Caucuses. She even overheard people talking about little ole Iowa in Starbucks.

Second was our turnout. I heard on TV tonight that about 5-6% typically vote in the Caucuses. Wow. They said this year was a record year for Iowa turnout, but I'd say from our area it wasn't much higher than that. But is 5% really a representation of our state? Couldn't we do a bit better than that? Again, I must say that this is the first year I've voted in it, so I shouldn't be judgemental. But when the Presidential Election comes around and people say neither candidate is worthwhile, I may ask if they voted in the Caucuses.

I was also very surprised at the format tonight. Being naive, I guess, I expected voting booths since this is so important. Nope. We wrote our candidates name on slips of paper that were hand counted while we waited. That seemed a bit of regression for our country, I thought. Not to offend anyone, but the Democrats process is a bit out there, IMHO, and if I understand it right. With people standing by the name/sign of their candidate, and if your candidate doesn't have 15%, then others come over and try to convince you to join their side. Maybe it reminds me of picking teams when I was a kid...and I was usually last picked so I was never fond of the process! LOL

I am happy with the results, however, and I guess that's what matters. I didn't vote for Mike Huckabee, but he was my very close second choice. I even wavered on my vote as I walked down the sidewalk to the voting area. I wish him the best! But most of all, I'm praying God's choice becomes President. God could say the Word and make it happen. But sometimes He lets us make the wrong choices. I pray that's not the case as we the people of the United States have been making some ungodly choices as of late.

Well, as I said, I'm not very political so you more than likely won't see a post like this very often! But thanks for putting up with my 2 cents. God Bless!

Oh, and as a point of interest...the word "Caucus" is actually a Native American word that describes when Tribal Leaders got together to make decisions. There's a bit of trivia for you!