I Repent

For years I have complained that not once in my life have I been able to vote for president. I’ve always voted against someone. (Yes, to be honest, I wasn’t even voting for Reagan. Do you remember the clowns who ran against him?)

I hereby repent of that attitude, buoyed by the late, great Robert Heinlein:

“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for … but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”

Update:

Instapundit just posted another Heinlein quote. Again, it’s a keeper.

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”