The (deputy) director's cut

Jerry moved, Bobby spit, and two days ago I felt truly excited about voting in a presidential election for the first time in my life. 

I won’t tell you whom I voted for, since Greenpeace is non-partisan and doesn’t endorse candidates. I will say I voted in the Democratic primary, which probably isn’t a huge shocker. Not that being a registered Democrat is a given for a Greenpeace staffer by any stretch. Many of my colleagues are registered outside of the traditional two-party set up, officially listed as Green, Independent, Socialist, Progressive, Whig or Skateboard Punk Rocker, to name a few. Certainly an approach to voting I respect and in many ways agree with in principle. I could go on all day about the shortcomings of the two-party, winner-take-all system we currently employ. But I’ll save that for another day.

On Tuesday, though, I felt a bit sorry for those who weren’t registered as Democrats. Because it meant they couldn't vote in the primary.  A primary in which I was actually excited about casting my ballot in a way I haven't felt since I started voting 24 years ago. How great was it to stand in front of the ballot box perusing my options, and know that my two main choices were a woman and an African American, both of whom are exceptional candidates with strong platforms on most issues. In addition to having a rare slate of inspiring choices, it was a great benchmark for where we’ve come as a country.

So often when voting in presidential elections I have felt like I was more voting against someone than voting for them. I cast my ballot with great passion in 2004, but that was primarily a vote against George Bush and the insolent/imperialistic policies that have marked his presidency since he stole the election almost eight years ago. They could run pretty much anyone against Bush (with the possible exception of Roger Clemens - is he lying or what?) and I’d vote for the challenger every time.  Only Bush and his stooges can make someone like Hanna Montana look like a legitimate presidential candidate, for no other reason than she'd be running against him.

But this time around feels different. I feel like we have real choices, who bring the promise of changing the destructive course our country has been on these past eight years. It’s still politics, I’m still inherently cynical and I'm not annointing any slam dunk saviors here. But despite all that I can't help but be inspired this time around. All I can say is that it felt good to actually be voting FOR someone, instead of simply picking the lesser of two evils.

Feels like help is on the way.