Vote Early, and Vote Often!

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Tomorrow (10/13) early voting begins in Kentucky. I'll be there! "Vote early, and vote often!" That infamous saying was always attributed to Chicago gangster Al Capone, when he endorsed Republican William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson for re-election. Capone even donated $250,000 (think of that in 1928 bucks, not 2020 dollars!) to Thompson's candidacy. However, despite the publicity-hungry Capone greedily scarfing up the credit for the statement, it actually predated the 1928 mayoral race by seventy years. "Vote early, and vote often" was a phrase attributed by the media to the corrupt political machine in New York City (with the corrupt Tammany Hall and the more corrupt Boss Tweed). It first appeared in newspapers, including the New York Times, in 1858. That was over 40 years before Capone was born! No, don't vote often. Vote if you want. I sincerely hope you do want to vote. However, as the band Rush said in the song "Freewill," "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice," so if the politics disgust you enough to sit this one out, don't let anyone shame you because you did. As the Steve Goodman song (linked below) says, "The winner's always someone else and the loser's always us." Maybe, but it's still a joy to celebrate freedom by voting. Steve Goodman's song from 1972 about the election, which sounds like it was written last week!