Election day was yesterday. It was a wild ride for our local community. As predicted the Republicans swept every position except the ones where Democrats were running unopposed.
I went downtown for the election results. The whole square was alive with anticipation, and the court house lawn was littered with supporters. All the candidates were shaking hands with locals. It was a truly awesome sight to see.
Until the results started coming in...
and I realized that some of the people I had supported the most were no longer in office. David Seibert has been one of the biggest advocates of Spirit of Athens. His support and belief in our organization made a lot of things possible over the last few years. Now, we have a commissioner who cares nothing for downtown and wants to relocate our municipal facilities to the land of the strip mall. Not that there's anything wrong with strip malls. It just isn't what has always made our small town so lovely.
I'm going to admit it. I cried. On the court house lawn. In public.
I do not consider myself to be a Republican or a Democrat. I probably look most like a Libertarian on paper, but I don't even consider my core beliefs to line up with the ideals of the Libertarian. I have NEVER voted a straight ticket, and I do NOT foresee myself ever voting a straight ticket. I believe in picking the right people for a job. Without the right assets in place, an official is useless.
I was saddened to see that instead of thinking about who to vote for and who would do the best job, people in my community voted straight Republican tickets. The word on the lawn last night was that at one point 60% of all the ballots counted were straight Republican tickets.
Come on, Man. I know Alabama still uses the 30 foot scantron thing that has to be bubbled in one at a time, but how lazy do you have to be to only fill in one bubble at the top?
