There's a particular Facebook group I belong to, where discussions spawn exponentially - where a few hundred women chatter with amazing openness about birth stories, and house hunting, and food budgets, and clothes, and coupons, and spouses, and children, and home life.
Yesterday, the discussion turned to voting. And to who was voting for whom, and why. This was probably a bad idea, but I had nothing to do with starting the battle, so I merely watched with sleep-deprived curiosity.
I have definite opinions of my own about this year's presidential candidates, but I didn't feel very tempted to share them until one woman announced:
"Well, I'm just not going to vote this year."
This one always gets me. Honestly, I will defend your right to not vote, since I really do believe that much in democracy (and philosophical consistency), but it miffs me a little when people carp from the sidelines, without participating.
Still, I wasn't going to grab the dog's tail until she continued:
"My husband is [in the military], so he knows more than most people about politics, and he isn't going to vote, so I'm not either."
... Soooo, I'm no feminist. Really, I'm not. But, I nearly screamed when I read this.
(a) What if your husband is wrong? You're really just going to take his word for it? I mean, I'm all for mutual spousal submission and agreeability, but holy macaroni, lady - do you realize how blindly you're following another imperfect human here?
(b) Do not cite the military as your reason NOT to vote. Ohmygosh, I wanted to personally message her, and inform her that I resented the insinuation that military members, who fight to preserve our ability to vote, should advocate NOT VOTING in the name of, uhm, being military.
(c) No one has the moral high ground here, or (dare I say) even superior intelligence about our nation's inner workings. Military members vote both directions, politically, and there's a lot of uncertainty about who even makes which decisions in Washington - and at Langley. So, don't tell me that your husband is the grand oracle.
(Aside: Let's be real. If someone like that exists, bet they're not announcing it.)
... It took all my will power to ignore her, and let her use her liberty to... be dumb.
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