Obligatory Voting Post

You should vote. Today should probably be a holiday to make it easier on you, but even though it isn't, vote anyhow.

I live in one of the most liberal cities in this hemisphere, a place where my largely progressive vote will most likely be but one in a huge tide of left-leaning ballots, but I'm still voting.

Even if you're the opposite, you should vote as well. I'd rather that some of you thought a little bit harder before you did, and about the right things, so here's a list of what to consider today:

The Iraq War
Government disaster response
Whether your congressman is corrupt
Whether your party supports the corruption
The environment

Your positions on these things don't matter to me. Everyone can disagree. Vote your conscience. But do not vote based on:

John Kerry's inability to read a teleprompter
The gay marriage boogeyman
Anything involving "culture wars"
Fear

These are red herrings. None of them truly matter to the welfare of our country because all are irrelevant to this election, especially that last one. Finally, don't vote based on any ad you've seen on TV, ever. They are all (Democrat and Republican alike) distortions and should be taken about as seriously as you would take voting advice found on the back of a sugar packet.