Forty years later and yes, I’d do it all over again

Last night on the local news, they were talking to two young men who were best friends and Biden volunteers.  They had voted for Trump in their first election in 2016, but now regretted it.

They should’ve regretted it the day after that election when Trump won!  Anyway, I’ll never forget my first election, Jimmy Carter vs Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I registered as a Democrat the year prior when I turned 18 and had to sign up for Selective Service. 

Are 18 year old males still required to register with Selective Service?  Yep!  (I just checked.)  I’ll never forget my older brother Duke teasing me about getting drafted, as he never had to worry.  Selective Service was halted in the early 1970s when Gerald Ford was president, but after Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976, got reinstated. 

But it only affected guys born 1960 & up (like me).  Males born between 1957 & 1959 (like my older brother) were never required to register.

Speaking of Duke, in the fall of 1980 he was a senior at Pitt University and married to his first wife Cheryl.  I was still at home, and went along with Mom & Dad to cast my first presidential vote.  Sometime after we got home, Duke called and asked if I’d voted and who I voted for.  (He knew better than to ask Mom or Dad that!) 

I told him Jimmy Carter, knowing fully well my brother (who was ultra-Republican and a Nazi stormtrooper in a previous life) would go ballistic—which he did.  I could almost hear the veins in his head popping as he told me I was worthless and that after he got into politics he’d ensure commies like me never got near a voting booth again.

(That sounded so crazy back then, but if you’re a minority or a Democrat now… you know.  Good luck getting your ballot to count.)  

Anyway, we know how things turned out—Reagan got like 500 electoral votes, I think the entire country voted for him except for the state of Georgia (Carter Country) & me.  President Carter got a raw deal over that Iranian hostage crisis and Reagan took all the credit.  I’m still ticked about that.

Speaking of Jimmy Carter, this biography was just released September 29 and my copy is on its way!  Say what you will about his presidency, the man is a saint

I will admit I didn’t vote in ‘84; I knew Mondale didn’t stand a chance against Reagan, and he got creamed alright.  But I never skipped an election again, and in 1992 when the VP of Omega Systems (my first IT employer) pleaded with everyone to vote for Bush and not “that socialist Bill Clinton”, I couldn’t vote for Bill & Hillary fast enough!

Weirdly, this happened again in 2008 when I worked for UPMC and our IT manager asked everyone to pray Barack Obama not get elected, or we’d all lose our jobs to socialized healthcare. 

(I’m still waiting for that, by the way.)

And on that happy note, I just got an update—my vote for this presidential election has been received & recorded.  Donald Trump, you’re about to become Donald Toast!