What is in the power of a vote?

I wanted to cross-post something which I wrote elsewhere. It addresses my overall view of the power held in our right to vote.

Here's a really simple rule of thumb for politics:
Vote for the candidate who you feel will best represent your voice in the office they are running for.

That may mean that you are voting for someone who is not a Republican or a Democrat. What it will mean, though, is that you are voting in a way which you can stand by. If you do not see any candidates you think you can support in that race, write in someone who you can support or get involved in politics yourself.

In the end, you've tried to make your voice heard. That's the best that all of us should strive for. Voting for "the other guy" so as to pick "the lesser of two evils" is just a cop-out for not learning about your choices.

The importance of our right to vote does not sit in our ability to pick which hand is hiding the coin, but rather in our ability to make educated and informed choices (all-be-it, with opportunity costs) for those people we can stand by as individual parts of a larger community.

If you feel so disillusioned by the system and the players currently presented by it, you have two final choices: (1) choose to ignore the system, (2) get involved in it and change it from within. If you don't like the game either stop playing or change the rules.

To repeat the important part of this message:
It is important that as voters we pick the candidate who we each feel will best represent our own voice in the office they are running for.

I have to admit, though, this opinion I hold creates a dilemma because I genuinely fear what decisions would be made by a McCain presidency. It would seem likely that our society would continue to boil over with anger and frustration, emotions we would externalize into wars (fiscal and literal) on an ever increasing number of enemies. It's highly likely that military strategy and fear-mongering would take the driver's seat while the problems felt in the home are dragged behind the vehicle.

Benevolence and kindness are not things which trickle down through monetary riches, they come from within each of us. Whether through faith in a higher power or faith in the power of the human spirit. It's time for us to put down the sword of vengeance and help each other back to our feet. I realize that it is very scary to let go of what you know, to accept that the past is past, but you need to look to the future now.

What gift do you want to give to the next generation? We're still feeling the effects of the decisions made for us before: Vietnam, Desert Storm, even the Cold War. What legacy do you want to leave the generations to come? How do you want your time to be remembered?