I thought about this this morning as I shuffled into our polling place in my slippers: Why isn’t Election Day a national holiday?

Seriously. No school. Close the banks. Close the market. Shut stuff down.

What greater day do we, as a nation, have to celebrate? How many men and women have died for this day? How many spouses and parents have folded U.S. flags for this day? How many people have sacrificed in times of war – all for the first Tuesday of every other November? This is a big day when we have the opportunity to live for what so many others have died for; why should it be a chore and a ding out of our paychecks to get to the voting booth?

I realize we have Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, and those are good days. But why not take the day we actually go to the polls to exercise our expensive freedoms as a day to remember too?

I’m not lobbying for an extra day off, here, either. Move Veteran’s Day to the first Saturday of November if that makes it easier. It just seems like we talk about vote, vote, vote. It’s your responsibility. It’s your duty. It’s a liberty that comes at a high price. And all those things are true, but they become mere slogans when we get up early to vote and then rush to work and forget about the whole thing until the evening news.

I also have to wonder what it would do for voter turn-out. One less excuse.

Just a thought for you on this lovely Election Day.

Oh, and don’t forget: Free (tall) Starbucks coffee when you flash your “I Voted” sticker.

I think I missed an opportunity last night. Sitting at dinner with my family, my dad asked if we got ourselves registered to vote at our new address in time. We did. “How will you be voting, then?”

I caved.

I saw my very liberally-minded, non-Christian younger brother sitting next to me out of the corner of my eye and thought about how I was going to text him today to see if we could get together for a bit after work. I got intimidated at the divisive nature of politics, and at the fear of alienating him and voiding anything I’d say to him for weeks … I just shrugged off the question.

And I drove home really disappointed in myself.

I drove home really disappointed that I couldn’t just say I’d be voting against Obama, and let the Holy Spirit do the job of ministering to my brother.

I drove home disappointed that I couldn’t just say, “I’m not excited about McCain – I don’t believe he’ll do much for our nation – but I’m voting against Obama because as charismatic as he is, he’s only been in national politics for two years, and in those two short years he’s earned one of the most liberal voting records in the Senate. He even voted against outlawing partial-birth abortion.

“He’s never served in the military, and I don’t believe for a minute that he has any respect for that uniform.

“He’s a Marxist. He has so many new programs and so many tax cuts planned he doesn’t seem to realize that one plus one doesn’t equal nine.

“He has questionable ties and assocations that no one is allowed to ask about or research. He’s hiding something about Harvard. He’s (along with the L.A. Times) hiding something about Israel.

“And his wife freaks me out.”

So there. At least I got to say it to you I guess.