We took the kids with us to vote this morning. Henry went with me into the voting booth.
Henry: Why are you doing this?
Me: I'm voting. I do it because it is a privilege to live in a country that lets its people choose its leaders. When I fill in this circle, it means that I want that person to be my leader.
I then went through each section (here in VA that was President, a Senator, a Congressman, and two Constitutional Amendments), reading him the names of each candidate and which political party each one represented.
Henry: So you are picking the good guy, right? Which ones are the bad guys?
Me: chuckling Well, you could ask different people that and they would give you different answers. But let me tell you the truth: it's complicated. Each of these people has worked hard serving their country. They've gone about it in different ways and have different ideas of what is best for everyone, but they are BOTH good guys. Do they always make good choices? No. Sometimes they make bad choices.
Henry: Bad choices mean sad consequences. (This phrase gets said countless times in our house every day.)
Me: Yes. That is true. And when an elected leader makes a bad choice, the sad consequence happens to a lot of people. But every few years, we get to pick again.
(pause)
Henry: Can I go get my sticker now?
Me: Yes. You can go get your sticker now. I'll even let you feed my ballot into the box. (But that was a lie. They didn't let him. I had to do it. But he carried it to the box for me.)
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