vote of confidence

Since it's election day, here's a brief story of polling opposites. This is a story of perfect balance, although not the one you might expect.

The usual trajectory of a young person's political awakening: first, noticing that your parents talk about politics here and there; second, realizing that they actually have opinions, hold positions on issues, and cast their votes accordingly; third, noting that your parents agree with each other on every issue and represent a unified, monolithic voting bloc; and fourth, immediately, instinctively, and often permanently taking the exact opposite position. And as long as we're rebelling, let's throw in staying out late, driving fast, and making questionable fashion choices.

Our experience was different. Mom and Dad had a politically mixed marriage from the start. That's not to say it was like Hardball every night around the dinner table; it was always more red-fish, blue-fish in our house than red-state, blue-state. Their political differences were quietly stated, more of the let's-agree-to-disagree variety. Their long-standing joke was that they cancelled out each other's votes every election, so they were both obligated to go to the polls. Score: Republicans, zero; Democrats, zero; democratic process; two. What we culled from all this joking and cancelling out is that you can disagree with someone's choice for governor and still love them, and that our voting choices were our own to make.