I vote.

Hi, my name is Warren. Welcome to my first post in Crashing the Political Party. My main objective here is to vent what I think, like, and feel concerning the politics of anywhere. If you agree with me, great. If you don't, even better, just tell me why. Comments are always appreciated. Now, to begin...

Yes, I vote. Not too groundbreaking of an assertion, I know. I choose to do so because I honestly think that my tiny single vote makes a difference of one. The world can be a pretty great place, but that doesn't mean there aren't things wrong with it. So my vote I like to think works toward bettering those things that are anywhere between not quite perfect and totally wrong.

And better still if my vote can join up with tens or hundreds or thousands others of a similar mindset.

I am old enough to have voted in the last two American presidential elections. In 2004 I voted for Bush. Do you know why? I wanted to prove to myself that I could select every single winning candidate and issue on my ballot. I don't agree with that reasoning now, but at the time, with a lack of political ideals, I didn't mind so much. And I got everything correct, except for some office like circuit clerk.

In 2008 I voted for Nader for president. Do you know why I voted for him? Obviously, I crossed some terrain in political ideals in those four years. I came to the conclusion that U.S. politics have gotten quite ugly over the last 150 years and that fundamental change is necessary. Not a single choice I made on that ballot took first place. But that didn't matter as much to me as telling my county, my state, and my country what I wanted.

So that's my reasoning now. Henry Clay, one my favorite historical figures, once said (probably following the third time he'd ran in and lost a presidential election) "I'd rather be right than be president." As would I.

Whenever the mood strikes, I'm going to talk about political things. And with regards to this, I find elections to be one of the most appealing aspects of democracy. You'll get to read what I think of politics in other countries as well, if I've done my homework beforehand.

2010 will prove to be a dynamic year as far as elections go. Besides the U.S. midterms on November 2, we have:

British general, May 6 I'm following this one every day
Colombian presidential, May 30 I live in Colombia, so this one is close to home
Dutch general, June 9 I have a Dutch friend who is keeping me up to date
Colombian presidential (second round), June 20 If necessary
Polish presidential, late June
Sweden general, September 19
Australian federal, probably between October and December
Possible Belgian federal
Possible Danish general
Possible Canadian federal