Veteran's Day

This Week's Reading

Now that my grading is getting caught up, I'm launching back into my comprehensive exam preparation.  That means reading books, articles, and book reviews.  I should have my European and Military & Naval reading lists nailed down in the next week, but U.S. is under control.  Since I don't have time to wait, and owe one of my dissertation co-chairs some work, I'm launching right into the Military & Naval, which has some overlap with the European list.

This week's light reading:

1. Jan Glete, War and the State in Early Modern Europe: Spain, the Dutch Republic and Sweden as Fiscal-Military States, 1500-1660.
2. Brian M. Dowling, The Military Revolution and Political Change: Origins of Democracy and Autocracy in Early Modern Europe.
3. William H. McNeill, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000.
4. Judith Butler, Gender Trouble.
5. Philip Caputo, A Rumor of War.
6. Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace.
7. Ronald J. Glasser, 365 Days.

Election Day

If you are a citizen of the United States, and have not voted, get thee to the polls.  This is the most visible opportunity you have to do one of the things that makes you an American: choose our leaders.

Voting is a right, a privilege, a responsibility, and a sacred duty.  As citizens of the world's oldest republic, we are morally responsible for the decisions of our leaders and the actions of our government.  If you don't vote, which represents the absolute minimum level of active citizenship, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution to our nation's many problems. 

Regardless of who you vote for, it is your job as an American to exercise the franchise, and to do so responsibly.  Pick up a newspaper and spend a couple of hours learning the issues and the candidates, and vote what you believe.  Get your information from serious sources, not those entertainers on the radio or television - Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Olbermann, and Maddow get paid to get ratings by pandering to key segments of the political extremes.

Don't just vote for the candidate based on their party designation, but whether you agree or disagree with their stands on the issues.  This is hard work, what Michael Douglas calls in the American President "advanced citizenship."  Despite the difficulty inherent in being a responsible voter, it is your duty to be one.  Make careful and sober choices because there are serious consequences for them.  The lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, not to mention citizens of other nations, depend on the decisions we make every time we vote.