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Column published the week of November 3, 2008 www.theleeonline.com © 2008, Lee Ostaszewski

One Last Thing: Vote

By Lee Ostaszewski The good news is the election is almost over. The bad news? Wait, didn’t you just read what I wrote? The election is almost over, there is no bad news. Sure, if your candidate loses, then you won’t be happy. But at least the campaigning will have stopped. Americans have had enough of presidential politics for a while. We have election fatigue. It’s practically chronic election fatigue syndrome. The election seems to have lasted somewhere between two weeks and two years too long. Around early October most people had enough. Despite being one of the most fascinating elections in decades, even political junkies seemed to have reached a presidential election overload. Recently, the election has had that dragging feeling, as if it should be over but won’t end. It’s similar to the late innings of an unexciting baseball game when the manager keeps making pitching change after pitching change, or the closing minute of a basketball game when a time out is called after every two seconds of playing time. You just want it to be done. That’s what this election has become. Most everyone I know can’t wait for Election Day to pass. And it’s not only the presidential race we feel this way about. As a Massachusetts resident, I want to mention to those neighbors living to our north in the great state of New Hampshire that whomever you elect in your senatorial race - be it John Sununu or Jeanne Shaheen – you should know we already deeply despise that person. It borders on hate. It’s unfounded and irrational hate, to be sure, but hate none-the-less. And it has nothing to do with the candidate’s political affiliation, or the issues, or whether or not they are nice people. We despise them because of the relentless negative TV ads airing from both sides that we have been forced to watch over and over again. We shouldn’t have to see this stuff. It’s not our Senate race. Yet every other commercial on Boston television seems to be a negative ad by one of the candidates. Here is the typical nightly commercial rotation: Negative Shaheen ad, Negative Sununu ad, Cialis Ad, Negative Sununu Ad, Viva Viagra ad, Negative Shaheen ad, Bob’s

Discount Furniture Ad. Repeat. It’s gotten to where I actually miss those annoying Frank TV ads that TBS aired nonstop during the baseball playoffs. Forget Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 moniker, this presidential election has become Interminable 2008. And God help us if we end up with a hanging chad situation and no clear winner. People might turn suicidal. Some will move out of the country. I’m thinking of leading a group exodus to the mountains of Peru if it happens. None of this should take away from the fact that we have one more important obligation left to perform. We must vote. It’s the least we can do. No excuses. My parents always found excuses. I’m not sure if some of their excuses were even valid. But this happened in Arizona in the 1970s, so it could have been true. Anyway, they claimed if they registered to vote then they would be on a list for jury duty. And apparently the last thing they wanted, besides voting, was to serve as a juror. Wonderful. Not voting and avoiding jury duty are the first two items on my list of responsibilities we all have living in a democracy. And my parents routinely avoided both. For those who haven’t seen my list before, probably because I just made it up a few minutes ago, here it is: Lee’s Seven Responsibilities for Living in a Democracy: 1. Vote. 2. Don’t weasel out of jury duty. 3. Pay your rightful share of taxes. 4. Serve our nation if asked. Sometimes, without being asked. 5. Keep your garbage contained so it doesn’t blow all over the street on trash day. 6. Let the neighbor kids retrieve their balls that land in your yard without screaming at them like a lunatic. 7. Recycle. To be free and live in the greatest nation on earth we aren’t asked to do much. So please vote. And New Hampshire, if there’s a third Senate candidate running, consider voting for that person. ■