They Should Be Ashamed

What the hell happened in Texas in the 2008 election? I just don't understand it. And no, I'm not talking about Texas re-electing a Republican senator and voting for the Republican presidential candidate. I don't like those things, but I'm an adult and I can accept getting beaten in a fair election.

What I'm talking about are the several million Texans who didn't even bother to vote. What is wrong with you people? Don't you love your country and your state? Did you just accept the pundit's prognostications and give up? Do you think your vote doesn't count or matter (if so, you are wrong)?

And don't even try to give me that old thing about there's not any difference between the candidates? This year there was a world of difference between the candidates -- both locally and nationally.

The early voting turnout was excellent, and that had many, including me, thinking the total vote would be huge here in Texas. The Texas Secretary of State predicted that 68% of Texans would vote. I was even more optimistic. I thought the turnout could be as good as 70-75%. We were both wrong!

While the turnout in other states did reach 70-80% (the U.S. had its highest turnout in 100 years), the Texas vote total was a paltry 59.32%. That is barely better than the 2004 turnout of slightly more than 56%. There are 13,575,062 registered voters in Texas, but only 8,053,036 of them voted in this election.

That means 5,522,026 of my fellow Texans didn't bother to vote. Those people let down their fellow Texans and their fellow Americans. They should be ashamed of themselves!