Conservatives take great pride in working, and for good reason. Work gives shape to life. Work is the poles of a tent, the bones of a body, the beams in the ceiling.
But work isn’t why we live. We live to pursue happiness.
For some, the pursuit of happiness involves acquiring property. Land, clothes, cars, plastic surgery. All examples of the pursuit of happiness.
Voting is another pursuit. People vote for minor candidates representing strange parties who have no chance of winning. It makes some voters happy.
People vote for totalitarians who will jeopardize their lives and liberty, and restrict their future pursuit of happiness. This makes the voter happy in the short run but miserable in the long run
I’m spending my election day 2012 pursuing my political happiness. Liberty. It’s a long-run strategy.
It may not pay off. There’s no guarantee of realizing happiness in this life. That makes the pursuit interesting.
For Election Day 2012, I’m voting early, putting out signs (“Vote for America: Retire Obama”) Then I’m having breakfast with my brain trust. Then, it’s last minute GOTV of people who vote right but not often. Then a watch party.
To be honest, I have not always been a fan of watch parties. I’d rather sit at home with complete control of my remote, my laptop on my lap, my iPhone and iPad fired up. I’d rather tweet and blog and scream at the TV. But I made a long-term commitment to the Tea Party movement in 2009, and that comes first. And at home I can’t enjoy the special gift of being among peers in the battle of our future.
If you have vacation on the books, use it today. Play hooky. Watch the polls and the election returns.
America’s most precious natural resources is its free people. Its greatest obstacle is government. On election days, the former can constrain the latter. The other 1,455 days in the cycle, government constrains you.
Vote wisely.