My little one went with us to our local library to watch us vote.  It wasn’t her first time but it may be the first one she remembers.  I can still recall going with my folks when they voted back when there were sliding curtains and levers.  It was always impressed upon me that to vote was both a duty and a privilege.  Now it is her time to watch the example we set and to learn the importance of making your voice heard.  Sixth President of the United States John Quincy Adams said, “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”  I have to say this is the most discouraged I have ever felt in an election, and I have voted in every once since I turned 21.  This picture of my little girl wearing my “I voted” sticker pretty much sums up my feelings.  People presume I am a flaming liberal because I care so deeply about the environment.  Others assume I’m a hard core Republican because of my views on pro-life.  I refuse to be labeled.  My mother was gently reared by parents who always voted Democrat as they felt loyalty to Franklin Delano Roosevelt for helping pull the country out of the Great Depression.  My father on the other hand was a staunch Republican and in fact worked very heavily on Barry Goldwater’s campaign.  They used to joke they were going to the polls to cancel each other out.  But they always went.  And they always went together.  This country needs to do the same.  With one presidential nominee spewing unspeakably foul things, and one whom I believe bears the weight of a good man being brutally raped and murdered in the streets of Benghazi, I do not know how to cast my vote between the two in good conscience.  Mama used to joke that in Texas you did not vote FOR someone so much as one voted AGAINST them.  I sincerely hope it does not come to that.  All I know to do is pray that this nation elects a leader who is fit to serve the highest calling of our country.  And may God have mercy upon us all.