Winter in Winnipeg part 5

I voted today. That in itself is not so interesting, except that this was definitely the first time I voted in Canada while living in China. As an absentee voter, I could have sent in my ballot earlier, but I waited on purpose. I wanted to see what happened in this circus election.

I am not going to say who I voted for. As soon as you talk about politics, people go crazy. I can't say if this is the most divisive time in American history. Since we are not currently in a state of civil war, it is probably not. But with the internet and a million talking heads on TV, there is an awful lot of rhetoric and hyperbole getting thrown around. People get very hateful when they talk politics online.

One of the great things about Minnesota is that we don't have to register for any particular party. We can vote for anyone we want in the primaries, just like the general election. In some states, you have to register as a member of a party and you can only vote for someone in that party during the primaries. I like having choices. That makes it feel like the United States is almost a democracy.

I would not want to be a Democrat or a Republican. Both parties are owned by giant corporations and just as corrupt as the other. But a lot of the more fanatically loyal members of each party think anyone who disagrees with their choice is either crazy or ignorant. I think that is just stupid. If you honestly believe that you are smarter than everyone who disagrees with you, you are probably not that bright. Those of us who are not forced to be a member of any party in order to vote can be open minded. That certainly does not make us any smarter. Plenty of elections have shown that Americans are not the smartest people in the world. But at least we don't have to toe any party lines and parrot all the talking points. As an independent, I can vote for both Bernie Sanders and Mike McFadden. I would never do such a thing, but I could.

For anyone unfamiliar with American/Minnesotan politics, Bernie Sanders is a “Democrat” who will not win the nomination, and Mike McFadden is a Republican who was easily defeated in his run for Senate. Ideologically, they are polar opposites.