Today I registered to vote. Never before have I been with so much excitement while filling out my name, address, and birthday. If only I had had my camera with me so that someone could take a photo of me with the people at the registration table. . .
I can vote!
This day got even better as I went to the Hinckley Institute Forum about "Civility in American Politics". Mayor Ralph Becker, Senator Karen Morgan, and Bob Bennet were there. While what every panel member said was interesting concerning the meaning of civility and the reasons for why we are where we are today, Bennet was by far the most interesting and the best speaker. Among other things, he brought up the incident of when senator (Sumner?) from South Carolina beat another senator from Massachusetts on the Senate floor until his cane broke. That is incivility. Bennet made the closing remark of the forum which ended on a question about one man's anger with his government leaders who he feels has failed him. Senator Morgan suggested to the man that he makes sure that he knows all of the facts and that he can always vote out his representative if he does not feel that he is being represented well. Bennett referred to this with his closing remark,
"Yeah, vote them out but don't take your can and beat them senseless."
That really wouldn't be the civil thing to do.
What a patriotic day! You are a great citizen Ali!
ReplyDelete