So I'm out back having a smoke break with a couple of my coworkers and (as often happens) talk turns to the situation in Iraq. At one point I mentioned that I hadn't voted for Bush but I was now very happy that he had won the election. Anonymous Coworker #1 replied with "I didn't vote at all 'cause I didn't like any of the candidates." Now this is a coworker who is well read and stays fairly current on world affairs and local happenings. I must have had a pretty interesting look on my face because conversation died at that point and both coworkers tossed their butts and went back to work. If I hadn't been so stunned by this admission of idiocy the conversation would not have stopped. It would have gone something like this:

Me: You didn't vote?

Anonymous Coworker #1: Nope. Like I said, I didn't like any of the candidates.

Me: You mean the presidential candidates?

AC1: Yeah. I didn't think any of them should have been in office.

Me: So you didn't vote because there wasn't a presidential candidate that you supported?

AC1: Yup.

Me: You are a dumbass.

AC1: What?!

Me: You are a dumbass. An idiot. An imbecile.

AC1: What the hell's your problem?

Me: You just told me that you didn't vote simply because there wasn't a presidential candidate that you supported. Your entire reason for not voting revolved around the presidency.

AC1: Yeah. So what?

Me: Did you know that there was also an election for Senators?

AC1: Well, yeah.

Me: Did you know that we also elected Congressmen?

AC1: Um, yeah.

Me: And that we also elected Public Service Commissioners, State Senators, State Representatives, District Attorneys, Court of Appeals Judges, and Superior Court Judges and a Governor and Lieutenant Governor?

AC1: Ah...I didn't realize there were so many but yeah, I knew there were state positions too.

Me: That's just the half of it. Did you know that there were votes on 7 amendments and 4 referendums and an official question that will affect how we vote in the future?

AC1: I, uh, heard something about those, yeah.

Me: Our local government was also elected at that time. Positions like Commissioner of Agriculture, Superintendant of Schools, Attorney General, Commissioner of Insurance and Commissioner of Labor to name a few.

AC1: (subdued) Yeah. I guess I did.

Me: Did you know that a significant number of those polls swung by 1000 votes or less?

AC1: (very subdued) Yeah, I heard that on the news.

Me: Dumbass.

Posted by: Jim at 08:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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