The Only Political Post You Will Ever See On This Blog

So remember those Scholastic Readers you had as a kid? Little pamphlets chock full of useful information about varying subjects such as firefighters, pumpkins, and whatever seasonally appropriate topic was current at the time? Well, Megan comes home with those about once a week, and, unsurprisingly, this week's topic was voting. They talked in their class about how America was choosing a new president, how that means that voters are choosing between two different candidates and voting for the one they think will do the best job, how to vote, and other things related to the process of the election. I guess then the teacher told them that they should take their booklet home and vote themselves--but that they should keep their vote a secret and that they didn't have to tell anyone who they voted for.

Megan took this task very seriously. First she looked all over the house for a pencil and was rather dismayed when she couldn't find one that was sharpened. When I asked her why she needed one so badly, she said, "Because, Mom, I have to vote!" Happily for all of us, I convinced her that it was ok if she used a pen. Then she sat at the desk for close to 10 minutes, looking at the booklet, tapping the pen against her pursed lips and talking to herself: "I wonder who I should vote for. I just can't decide. Hmm...maybe him...or maybe him...I just don't know." During this process I never said one word to her beyond agreeing that voting can sometimes be a difficult decision, and, yes, it is very interesting. Finally she was struck by the muse, announced that she had decided, wrote it in her booklet, and ran off to play. I didn't ask her who her choice was, of course, because she was very serious that--like a birthday wish--you cannot tell anyone.

Yesterday, though, I found her "ballot." And I am not ashamed to say that I looked inside it. And now I am going to further my betrayal of the sacred trust that is a vote and share it with you, because I just cannot keep this to myself.

She went above and beyond her civic duty, I tell you, and decorated the front of her paper:
I will translate for you (I am helpful). Up by the "Let's Find Out," it says, "I VOTE BUT SHE DID NOT WANT TO." And coming out of the mouth of this apparently un-American woman who does not choose to exercise her rights as a free citizen it says, "BUT THAT IS OK." You will also notice that out of the other side of her mouth, musical notes are escaping. I asked Megan tonight what that meant, and she said, "She's singing it, Mom." Like, duh.

So what I take from this is that Megan is advocating a position of acceptance of those who abstain from participating in the electoral process, especially if they do so in song.

And if you're wondering who Meg voted for, here's the inside of her booklet:
Girlfriend's got her finger on the heartbeat of America, it seems.

The best part of all of this (though it's hard to top the musical-theater aspect of it) is that from what I can glean from talking to her, I think that Megan truly believes that her vote was the swing vote that tipped the scales in his favor.

I think her teacher did a really good job of explaining it all (aside from perhaps leaving out the fact that, cute as they may be, Kindergarteners' decorated Scholastic Readers aren't included in the official tally), because tonight while I was reading an article online that had a big picture of Obama in it, Megan came up behind me and her eyes got really big. I said, "That's a picture of our new president," and she said, "I know." And I said, "I hope he'll be a good one," and she said, "Well, you know, Mom, he has to promise that he will do his best."