You Voted: So Now What?

Hooray, it is Election Day. Wear that "I voted" sticker with pride. Whoopee. You possibly voted, are planning on voting later today or have decided not to vote. Good, congratulations on participating in the democratic process. But now that the election is soon to be over, what are you going to do?

Will you remove that McCain & Palin sticker from your car's bumper? Will you still be wearing that "Obama for Change" T-shirt in three months? Chances are that you will lose all interest in politics until the next election - that is OK too.

Think about all the fun things that will happen between now and the next time most people in the United States turn out to vote in the 2012 presidential election. You may get the chance to see four more baseball teams make it to the World Series. Possibly even your team, Cubs fans.

By that time, California will have a new governor; well at least we hope - hope for that person not to be an actor/actress. Gavin Newsom may still be the mayor of San Francisco and the heartthrob of middle-aged women everywhere. But at least you can rejoice over the reduction of political junk mail.

But let's think short-term right now. What about in the next three months?

Hello, holidays. There is Thanksgiving, the second of the festive eating occasions, being a little less than one month after most of us swore off eating candy all together. And yet we stuff our faces until we can't manage another bite. At least no one phone banking for a political party will be calling and interrupting the family feuding.

Unfortunately, before you find time to take the election sign posts out of your lawn, Christmas and other December holidays arrive, continuing the tradition of eating food that isn't good for us and overindulging on sweets until we convince ourselves to go on diets.

What do you know? Just in time for New Year's, a time to make promises to yourself that you most likely won't keep, much like the lofty promises of high school presidents … or nationally elected ones, come to think of it. But at least this gives you something to look forward to, something other than election campaigns.

But just because the elections are coming to a close doesn't meant you have to stop being politically active. How about getting involved in local elections or joining campus political organizations? Just because the presidential elections are not around doesn't mean you can't become informed.

You can become informed on anything if you do some initial research - research I hope people did about the propositions on the ballot and the presidential candidates.

Becoming more informed can help with things such as the calorie count of the syrup and marshmallows used on candied yams, the maximum number of light strands you can string together on a Christmas tree and the number of drinks that can be consumed on New Year's before you find Dick Clark attractive.

So find something to get passionate about and stick with it. Just remember that if your political party didn't win this election, say what the Cubs fans have been saying since 1909: "There is always next season."