I just returned from voting. Voting in my precinct was quick and easy, with no lines or any visible problems. One thing caught my attention, though. On the ballot that I voted on, there was one question to vote on that I don't believe should have been on the ballot:

"Shall the United States Government immediately begin an orderly and rapid withdrawal of all its military personnel from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and Reserves?"

This "Countywide Referendum" seems to me to be nothing more than a political ploy by the Democrats of my area, trying to gather ammunition for the demand to eventually withdraw our troops before victory is achieved. I would have preferred not to see that question on the ballot for several reasons, the main one being that it is not a vote that really means anything. My county does not make such decisions; our federal government is in charge of those decisions. In addition, no foreign policy decisions of this nature should be decided by majority rule straight from the voter. The average citizen has no business making military decisions or foreign policy decisions. We elect people to do that, so that decisions are (hopefully) made on the basis of what is right for our country, with access to strategies and intelligence the average voter may have little knowledge of. Of course, we owe it to our elected officials to let them know what results we would like to see, but they may have to make decisions that go against that because they believe it to be in the best interest of our country.

In any case, on that particular referendum, I voted no.