Doug Van Pelt

I voted

I am so stinkin' tired. It's 11:18 and I've yet to really feel alive yet. I rose early to go get in line down at City Hall so I could vote shortly after the polling started at 7am. There wasn't much of a line in front of me, which was great. I had to get out of there and home by 7:15 to take my kids to school. I'm glad I was able to pull that off. I wondered if it would be possible, thinking that maybe the lines would've been too long to wait for. That thought mad me kind of irritable. It also made me kind of ashamed at how my being inconvenienced might influence whether I voted or not. The Texas Primaries have turned out to be a pivotal part of this year's presidential election. It's kind of neat to be involved in something so historical. I work a good 25 miles from the polling place. If I couldn't vote in this small window, it would have required a special trip in the middle of the day. I would not have enjoyed that. That's pretty shallow of me, I think. It's cool to be able to vote in this democratic republic that we live in here in the USA. I think of other countries, like Kenya and other places, where elections are disputed and social unrest erupts in a violent and ugly way. I wonder how strong our country is. I wonder how fragile our society and communities are. Will something like the "Rodney King riots" happen again here? How safe are we in middle class America? I saw a press release about an indie movie that's screening next week at sxsw here in Austin. It's a documentary about the fragile nature of society in Brazil, where the "middle class" has eroded and there now exists a chasm between the elite and the poor. I wonder if that's a true picture of Brazil?

On another note, when I left for the polling place this morning, my wife took a look at what I was wearing and said, "Don't tell anyone you're married to me -- looking like that!" Even my kids joined in, saying I looked ridiculous in my San Diego Chargers football jersey and my high school letterman's jacket on over it. I have some fun looking ridiculous just for the heck of it sometimes. I did meet one of my neighbors, who reached his hand over my voting booth walls to shake hands.

And one little off-the-subject gripe. I read a couple of articles recently that talked about the possibility of the Dallas Cowboys trading Marion Barber to the Dolphins to get the 1st pick in the draft, so they can pick up running back Darren McFadden from Arkansas. If Jerry Jones lets Barber go, he is not a smart man. This guy runs like he's been given the football and won't have another chance at it again -- every time he touches the ball! This guy is amazing. I would groan if Jones and company let this guy go. I hope he doesn't fancy himself a Jimmy Johnson, who let All Pro Hershell Walker go the to Vikings in exchange for about a dozen players (via picks and the trade). That was letting your one good player go for a collection of players to help rebuild the team. The Cowboys are currently an elite team and don't need to give up one of their best players in exchange for one guy. I appreciate the courage to think that "dangerously," but Barber is too much of a great player to let go like that -- even if McFadden was a proven winner (which he is not). So, I vote for keeping Barber.