I'd like to address this, if I may.

First, "value." Off the top of my head,

- The 2000 presidential election was ultimately decided by 537 votes.

- The 2004 Washington gubernatorial election was decided by 129 votes.

- Al Franken won in Minnesota in 2008 by 312 votes.

Yes - it seems more "capricious" than "valuable" but that's the thing - you never know when your vote is going to count so you might as well act like it always counts. Because keep in mind - your neighborhood is full of old people. They likely vote differently than you. And voting is the highlight of their day, their week, their month - it's a social occasion beyond compare, and their chance to stick it to those goddamn liberal kids that keep playing their hippity hoppity music. If all you do is negate one of them, you've done a good deed.

Finally, it's not like you trudged four hours across the steppe to cast your ballot. All 50 states allow some form of absentee voting. Do what I do - gather with your loved ones, pour a glass of wine, and go through that ream of election flyers while paging through the Internet. You can make an absolutely informed decision in like 20 minutes tops, on every issue down to circuit court judges. Shit, get your friends over and order pizza. My uncle's family has done it that way since before absentee ballots became the rage. Democrats, republicans, libertarians, pizza and beer. You wanna see a lively party, discuss ballot measures with the opposing side over cocktails. It's a trip.

Next, "choice." Your options are likely not as different as you'd like, but it's easy and flippant to argue that they're the same. Do you really think McCain and Palin would have run the country the same way Obama did? Do you really think Al Gore would have run the country the same way as George W. Bush? It matters down to your local legislators - know them, understand them, see who endorses them and why. Politics, like real estate, is a game played by people who suck at everything else. It's about the most transparent spectator sport ever seen. If you can't pick out a difference or two between any two candidates - and extrapolate what that difference might mean - you aren't paying attention.

Finally, "change."

There are now more people living in states where gay marriage is legal than states where it isn't. White men can marry black women. Marijuana is steadily becoming legal. Does the system always benefit you? Does it work at the speed you want it to? Is it utterly beyond reproach? No to all three... but to pretend that it's a lose-lose situation is just the sort of apathy that permits people to be elected by a hundred and twenty nine fuckin' votes.

Finally, there's this:

If you don't participate in that most basic, most simple, most painless and most easy of civic duties, you have no right, absolutely no right, to bitch about the consequences of your inaction.

Fuckin' vote. Y'all act like it's an insult to be asked your opinion about who should run the country for you. Yeah, they're asking everyone else, too, and you might not get your way but if you don't even open your mouth how the fuck do you think you're entitled to a say in the matter?