PLEASE REGISTER!*

If you're not registered to vote, you're running out of time. Register now. Today. To see the state deadlines, click here.

I vote for several reasons. Affecting the outcome, actually, is one of the least important. I vote because:

1) It's an affirmation that all other Americans have a legitimate claim on me, and that I have a legitimate claim on them. They are bound to hear my voice, and I am bound to hear theirs.

2) It's an affirmation that all human beings are fundamentally equal in dignity, that all have a right to be heard, and that my voice is neither more nor less important than anyone else's.

3) I will want to bitch about the government later, and I won't feel I can do so in good conscience if I shirked my own simple and fundamental duty of governance.

4) I vote as a Buddhist -- voting is a recognition and celebration of tendrel, of interconnectedness.

5) And after all, you never know. This election might be decided by one vote.

So register. Even if you mean to vote for That Awful Man.

*Apologies to my non-American readers. (Not big apologies, though. As the world now stands this election is as important to many of you as it is to us.)