Voting Today: One's Conscience, One's Duty... and a difficult decision in my life.

[RonPaulCentral]

Today I faced a hard reality that was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I just voted 30 minutes ago and now realize I clearly made the correct choice.

My experience today was as follows:

I walked into the polling place and looked around the room. There were people of all ages some as young as 18 years old some in their 80's. There was general chatter around and everyone was in a rather happy mood. The folks checking IDs against the rolls all seemed happy and were obviously pleased to be volunteering their time. I verified my information and then went to the table behind me to collect my ballot.

I walked over to and ducked into the small plastic poorly built & swaying booth and began to start reading over my ballot. The first thing I read.... PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT. I starred at it for at least 30 seconds knowing I had a difficult decision to make but I could not make that decision at that moment. So I continued on to vote for State Reps, Senators, Judges, School Board members and State Amendments. Also being elected was our local sheriff which happens to be one of my best friends Uncle.... so that was an important vote for me.

It took me about 10 minutes to clearly read over everything and make my mark so to speak......

And then... back to my Presidential vote.

Ever since the primary election more and more of my friends have been getting onto the McCain train not because they actually liked him but that they wanted to keep Obama out of office. Their decisions mostly pertained to the uber Socialism and Terrible Anti-Gun policies of Obama. I must admit as well, I really don't care for those issues either and he kind of scares me. I also do NOT like McCain. I think he is a hot head with terrible policies of his own.

But what do I do? Do I just follow the pack and vote for one of these two turds just because they are the only ones really with any chance of winning due to the obvious current status of things? Do I vote my conscience and support the man that I have supported since weeks after he announced he was running? After all I was more involved in politics this past 16+ months than anytime in my life by an exponential factor.

What do I do. I REALLY DON'T WANT McCain and his path to WWIII but I almost think that is more acceptable (in the since that I think the country couldn't do it anyways as we wont be able to support it financially) then the policies of the Uber Socialist Obama (which we can not afford either).

I stared at the ballot .... just stared ..... with a feeling of sadness, helplessness and general feeling of failure.

Then I started to think about a video I had watched this morning when I first had my morning coffee and sat down to read the current events online.

It was a video from an individual I watch online and have for sometime. You may know of him and you may not... his name is Don Harrold. Here is a link to the video I watched....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kPz8fnbrIY

... as I stood there in the voting booth Don's video ran through my head..... and I reflected upon this very point in the video....

Don asked for the viewer of the video to vote for the person that they felt would best uphold his oath of office. And then I thought.......

PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I knew at this point that my decision was not so difficult after all. It was my duty as a citizen of this country to make the choice, the only choice, for the individual that I felt, no that I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF DOUBT, would not only uphold that oath of office but would do it in a way that would make me actually proud of my President.

My pen trailed down the list of bubbles next to all the candidates running for office and stopped right next to that bubble with an empty line next to it.

I bubbled in WRITE IN CANDIDATE and wrote clearly on the line ......

RON PAUL

... I then collected my two ballot cards and walked to the exit. Our ballots are scanned so I inserted the first one in and... swoosh... it scanned it up... then I feed the second one in... half way in it jammed.. stopping leaving the
ballot hanging out. The poll worker walked over to help me clear the jam. Guess what part was exposed? My selection for President. The gal read it looked up at me... looked back down... looked up at me and smiled.

I said... "Funny this one would Jam huh?"

The look on her face was one of "I understand what you are saying... and I get it... and I agree."... She smiled at me again and the tried 4 more times to get it to take and then finally it scanned.

She thanked me for voting gave me a sticker and I walked out the door.

5 minutes later I was at home standing in my driveway smoking a cigarette... thinking about what I had just done.

At that moment I felt pride... I felt good knowing that I was not a part of electing into office an individual that I *KNOW* won't care a bit about DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION.

If nothing else tonight I can go to sleep tonight with a clear head KNOWING
I DID THE RIGHT THING FOR MY COUNTRY.

I feel happier right now then I have in a long... long... long time. I just wanted to share this experience with you as it will be one that I take with me the rest of my life.

[RonPaulCentral]

Great to see my post moved into "the pit"..... :(

[SnappleLlama]

Awesome story, and I'm not one for feel-good stuff. You rule! :)

[Bryan]

Great story.. thanks for sharing and for standing up for what is right.

[Bryan]

Great to see my post moved into "the pit"..... :(
The pit? No, today Election 2008 is central with top billing.

[ClockwiseSpark]

Great post. This isn't the pit, it's the main part of the forum for today.

[Chibioz]

Thank you for posting your story. :)

[Anti Federalist]

Today I faced a hard reality that was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I just voted 30 minutes ago and now realize I clearly made the correct choice.

My experience today was as follows:

I walked into the polling place and looked around the room. There were people of all ages some as young as 18 years old some in their 80's. There was general chatter around and everyone was in a rather happy mood. The folks checking IDs against the rolls all seemed happy and were obviously pleased to be volunteering their time. I verified my information and then went to the table behind me to collect my ballot.

I walked over to and ducked into the small plastic poorly built & swaying booth and began to start reading over my ballot. The first thing I read.... PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT. I starred at it for at least 30 seconds knowing I had a difficult decision to make but I could not make that decision at that moment. So I continued on to vote for State Reps, Senators, Judges, School Board members and State Amendments. Also being elected was our local sheriff which happens to be one of my best friends Uncle.... so that was an important vote for me.

It took me about 10 minutes to clearly read over everything and make my mark so to speak......

And then... back to my Presidential vote.

Ever since the primary election more and more of my friends have been getting onto the McCain train not because they actually liked him but that they wanted to keep Obama out of office. Their decisions mostly pertained to the uber Socialism and Terrible Anti-Gun policies of Obama. I must admit as well, I really don't care for those issues either and he kind of scares me. I also do NOT like McCain. I think he is a hot head with terrible policies of his own.

But what do I do? Do I just follow the pack and vote for one of these two turds just because they are the only ones really with any chance of winning due to the obvious current status of things? Do I vote my conscience and support the man that I have supported since weeks after he announced he was running? After all I was more involved in politics this past 16+ months than anytime in my life by an exponential factor.

What do I do. I REALLY DON'T WANT McCain and his path to WWIII but I almost think that is more acceptable (in the since that I think the country couldn't do it anyways as we wont be able to support it financially) then the policies of the Uber Socialist Obama (which we can not afford either).

I stared at the ballot .... just stared ..... with a feeling of sadness, helplessness and general feeling of failure.

Then I started to think about a video I had watched this morning when I first had my morning coffee and sat down to read the current events online.

It was a video from an individual I watch online and have for sometime. You may know of him and you may not... his name is Don Harrold. Here is a link to the video I watched....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kPz8fnbrIY

... as I stood there in the voting booth Don's video ran through my head..... and I reflected upon this very point in the video....

Don asked for the viewer of the video to vote for the person that they felt would best uphold his oath of office. And then I thought.......

PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I knew at this point that my decision was not so difficult after all. It was my duty as a citizen of this country to make the choice, the only choice, for the individual that I felt, no that I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF DOUBT, would not only uphold that oath of office but would do it in a way that would make me actually proud of my President.

My pen trailed down the list of bubbles next to all the candidates running for office and stopped right next to that bubble with an empty line next to it.

I bubbled in WRITE IN CANDIDATE and wrote clearly on the line ......

RON PAUL

... I then collected my two ballot cards and walked to the exit. Our ballots are scanned so I inserted the first one in and... swoosh... it scanned it up... then I feed the second one in... half way in it jammed.. stopping leaving the
ballot hanging out. The poll worker walked over to help me clear the jam. Guess what part was exposed? My selection for President. The gal read it looked up at me... looked back down... looked up at me and smiled.

I said... "Funny this one would Jam huh?"

The look on her face was one of "I understand what you are saying... and I get it... and I agree."... She smiled at me again and the tried 4 more times to get it to take and then finally it scanned.

She thanked me for voting gave me a sticker and I walked out the door.

5 minutes later I was at home standing in my driveway smoking a cigarette... thinking about what I had just done.

At that moment I felt pride... I felt good knowing that I was not a part of electing into office an individual that I *KNOW* won't care a bit about DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION.

If nothing else tonight I can go to sleep tonight with a clear head KNOWING
I DID THE RIGHT THING FOR MY COUNTRY.

I feel happier right now then I have in a long... long... long time. I just wanted to share this experience with you as it will be one that I take with me the rest of my life.

The "Pit"??!!

Not hardly, stickied into the top sub forum today.

http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/political-pictures-stephen-colbert-epic-win.jpg

[RonPaulCentral]

The "Pit"??!!

Not hardly, stickied into the top sub forum today.



Wow... I have never had one of my posts be stickied.... :p

[Anti Federalist]

Wow... I have never had one of my posts be stickied.... :p

It's deserved.

Too bad there are a minority of knuckleheads around here who don't understand what you did and why.

You and I will both sleep well tonight, and not have to scrub our skin raw trying to get the stench of failure and treason off.

[phixion]

Difficult decisions of your life?

Voting Ron Paul would of been my easiest by far.

Do you understand why other people who aren't as passionate aren't able to vote any other way on election day?

You were very nearly part of the problem. And even you found it difficult to vote Ron Paul.

In all honesty I think you ought to be ashamed.

Pete

[kaleidoscope eyes]

Hey, fantastic stuff there RP Central, warms the cockles of my heart.
I too wrote in Ron Paul, he's the only politician I give a damn about (for now) plus, the only 3rd party choice on our ballot was Barr, making it EXTRA easy to write in the Good Doctor, my conscience feels clean.

[Pete]

Very good story. I hope you're in a state where that vote will register, although it certainly did with the poll worker, and who knows where that may lead?

I haven't voted yet, but printed out a ballot from my county BOE and went through it, particularly researching the judges and other state/county appointments. I picked the best people, be they Rs, Ds, or Is. For the first time in my life, I am actually making well-informed choices rather than intuitive guesses. That is sad, but I'm happy to be finally correcting my deficiency as a voting citizen.

My daughter called to ask about "my guy" (Chuck Baldwin) and I wound up going through the whole ballot with her and the pros and cons contained therein.

My 'Ron Paul Was Right' bumper sticker is on my car.

I am ready to go to the polls.

[RonPaulCentral]

Difficult decisions of your life?

Voting Ron Paul would of been my easiest by far.

Do you understand why other people who aren't as passionate aren't able to vote any other way on election day?

You were very nearly part of the problem. And even you found it difficult to vote Ron Paul.

In all honesty I think you ought to be ashamed.

Pete

I think you missed most of the point to my post. It was all about the struggle in my own head caused by the effects of the constant programming and social effects I have been subjected to since the Primary. I am just thankful my head cleared and I made the right decision. Ashamed would be if I had voted for McCain but I didn't. I have to reason to be ashamed for being honest about my feelings.

[PatriotG]

Today I faced a hard reality that was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I just voted 30 minutes ago and now realize I clearly made the correct choice.

My experience today was as follows:

I walked into the polling place and looked around the room. There were people of all ages some as young as 18 years old some in their 80's. There was general chatter around and everyone was in a rather happy mood. The folks checking IDs against the rolls all seemed happy and were obviously pleased to be volunteering their time. I verified my information and then went to the table behind me to collect my ballot.

I walked over to and ducked into the small plastic poorly built & swaying booth and began to start reading over my ballot. The first thing I read.... PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT. I starred at it for at least 30 seconds knowing I had a difficult decision to make but I could not make that decision at that moment. So I continued on to vote for State Reps, Senators, Judges, School Board members and State Amendments. Also being elected was our local sheriff which happens to be one of my best friends Uncle.... so that was an important vote for me.

It took me about 10 minutes to clearly read over everything and make my mark so to speak......

And then... back to my Presidential vote.

Ever since the primary election more and more of my friends have been getting onto the McCain train not because they actually liked him but that they wanted to keep Obama out of office. Their decisions mostly pertained to the uber Socialism and Terrible Anti-Gun policies of Obama. I must admit as well, I really don't care for those issues either and he kind of scares me. I also do NOT like McCain. I think he is a hot head with terrible policies of his own.

But what do I do? Do I just follow the pack and vote for one of these two turds just because they are the only ones really with any chance of winning due to the obvious current status of things? Do I vote my conscience and support the man that I have supported since weeks after he announced he was running? After all I was more involved in politics this past 16+ months than anytime in my life by an exponential factor.

What do I do. I REALLY DON'T WANT McCain and his path to WWIII but I almost think that is more acceptable (in the since that I think the country couldn't do it anyways as we wont be able to support it financially) then the policies of the Uber Socialist Obama (which we can not afford either).

I stared at the ballot .... just stared ..... with a feeling of sadness, helplessness and general feeling of failure.

Then I started to think about a video I had watched this morning when I first had my morning coffee and sat down to read the current events online.

It was a video from an individual I watch online and have for sometime. You may know of him and you may not... his name is Don Harrold. Here is a link to the video I watched....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kPz8fnbrIY

... as I stood there in the voting booth Don's video ran through my head..... and I reflected upon this very point in the video....

Don asked for the viewer of the video to vote for the person that they felt would best uphold his oath of office. And then I thought.......

PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I knew at this point that my decision was not so difficult after all. It was my duty as a citizen of this country to make the choice, the only choice, for the individual that I felt, no that I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF DOUBT, would not only uphold that oath of office but would do it in a way that would make me actually proud of my President.

My pen trailed down the list of bubbles next to all the candidates running for office and stopped right next to that bubble with an empty line next to it.

I bubbled in WRITE IN CANDIDATE and wrote clearly on the line ......

RON PAUL

... I then collected my two ballot cards and walked to the exit. Our ballots are scanned so I inserted the first one in and... swoosh... it scanned it up... then I feed the second one in... half way in it jammed.. stopping leaving the
ballot hanging out. The poll worker walked over to help me clear the jam. Guess what part was exposed? My selection for President. The gal read it looked up at me... looked back down... looked up at me and smiled.

I said... "Funny this one would Jam huh?"

The look on her face was one of "I understand what you are saying... and I get it... and I agree."... She smiled at me again and the tried 4 more times to get it to take and then finally it scanned.

She thanked me for voting gave me a sticker and I walked out the door.

5 minutes later I was at home standing in my driveway smoking a cigarette... thinking about what I had just done.

At that moment I felt pride... I felt good knowing that I was not a part of electing into office an individual that I *KNOW* won't care a bit about DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION.

If nothing else tonight I can go to sleep tonight with a clear head KNOWING
I DID THE RIGHT THING FOR MY COUNTRY.

I feel happier right now then I have in a long... long... long time. I just wanted to share this experience with you as it will be one that I take with me the rest of my life.

I hope you don't mind, I posted this on our site.
Very well written!
Thumbs Up RPC !

[acptulsa]

I think you missed most of the point to my post. It was all about the struggle in my own head caused by the effects of the constant programming and social effects I have been subjected to since the Primary. I am just thankful my head cleared and I made the right decision. Ashamed would be if I had voted for McCain but I didn't. I have to reason to be ashamed for being honest about my feelings.

Oh, he's always obnoxious. No, there's no shame in taking the long route to doing the right thing. Well done. Enjoy sleeping on the soft pillow of your clear conscience. :)

[dannno]

WINNER!!

http://img10.beijing2008.cn/20080816/Img214548538.jpg

:)

[Bruno]

You will sleep better tonight many people will, OP!

We will be taking our 12 year old into the booth with us as we vote for Ron Paul. He had some friends over they other day and they asked him who we were voting for, "My Mom and Dad are voting for Ron Paul." :D

[UtahApocalypse]

Amen my friend, brother, and fellow patriot. If only the rest of America could only reason so easily what the bottom line is.

[Bruno]

The pit? No, today Election 2008 is central with top billing.

Yep! :D

Election 2008 (110 Viewing)

Total members that have visited the forum in the last 24 hours: 1,062

Currently Active Users: 500 (147 members and 353 guests)

[RonPaulCentral]

I hope you don't mind, I posted this on our site.
Very well written!
Thumbs Up RPC !

Not at all. Wow.. How cool is that. :D

[Mani]

Great job RPC! Nothing to be ashamed of at all.

[josephadel_3]

Didn't Ron Paul tell us NOT to write in his name and instead vote third party? That's what I thought at least. I understand your reasoning, but I just think your vote might have done a little more good voting for Barr, Baldwin, or Nader.

[aravoth]

Today I faced a hard reality that was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I just voted 30 minutes ago and now realize I clearly made the correct choice.

My experience today was as follows:

I walked into the polling place and looked around the room. There were people of all ages some as young as 18 years old some in their 80's. There was general chatter around and everyone was in a rather happy mood. The folks checking IDs against the rolls all seemed happy and were obviously pleased to be volunteering their time. I verified my information and then went to the table behind me to collect my ballot.

I walked over to and ducked into the small plastic poorly built & swaying booth and began to start reading over my ballot. The first thing I read.... PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT. I starred at it for at least 30 seconds knowing I had a difficult decision to make but I could not make that decision at that moment. So I continued on to vote for State Reps, Senators, Judges, School Board members and State Amendments. Also being elected was our local sheriff which happens to be one of my best friends Uncle.... so that was an important vote for me.

It took me about 10 minutes to clearly read over everything and make my mark so to speak......

And then... back to my Presidential vote.

Ever since the primary election more and more of my friends have been getting onto the McCain train not because they actually liked him but that they wanted to keep Obama out of office. Their decisions mostly pertained to the uber Socialism and Terrible Anti-Gun policies of Obama. I must admit as well, I really don't care for those issues either and he kind of scares me. I also do NOT like McCain. I think he is a hot head with terrible policies of his own.

But what do I do? Do I just follow the pack and vote for one of these two turds just because they are the only ones really with any chance of winning due to the obvious current status of things? Do I vote my conscience and support the man that I have supported since weeks after he announced he was running? After all I was more involved in politics this past 16+ months than anytime in my life by an exponential factor.

What do I do. I REALLY DON'T WANT McCain and his path to WWIII but I almost think that is more acceptable (in the since that I think the country couldn't do it anyways as we wont be able to support it financially) then the policies of the Uber Socialist Obama (which we can not afford either).

I stared at the ballot .... just stared ..... with a feeling of sadness, helplessness and general feeling of failure.

Then I started to think about a video I had watched this morning when I first had my morning coffee and sat down to read the current events online.

It was a video from an individual I watch online and have for sometime. You may know of him and you may not... his name is Don Harrold. Here is a link to the video I watched....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kPz8fnbrIY

... as I stood there in the voting booth Don's video ran through my head..... and I reflected upon this very point in the video....

Don asked for the viewer of the video to vote for the person that they felt would best uphold his oath of office. And then I thought.......

PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I knew at this point that my decision was not so difficult after all. It was my duty as a citizen of this country to make the choice, the only choice, for the individual that I felt, no that I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF DOUBT, would not only uphold that oath of office but would do it in a way that would make me actually proud of my President.

My pen trailed down the list of bubbles next to all the candidates running for office and stopped right next to that bubble with an empty line next to it.

I bubbled in WRITE IN CANDIDATE and wrote clearly on the line ......

RON PAUL

... I then collected my two ballot cards and walked to the exit. Our ballots are scanned so I inserted the first one in and... swoosh... it scanned it up... then I feed the second one in... half way in it jammed.. stopping leaving the
ballot hanging out. The poll worker walked over to help me clear the jam. Guess what part was exposed? My selection for President. The gal read it looked up at me... looked back down... looked up at me and smiled.

I said... "Funny this one would Jam huh?"

The look on her face was one of "I understand what you are saying... and I get it... and I agree."... She smiled at me again and the tried 4 more times to get it to take and then finally it scanned.

She thanked me for voting gave me a sticker and I walked out the door.

5 minutes later I was at home standing in my driveway smoking a cigarette... thinking about what I had just done.

At that moment I felt pride... I felt good knowing that I was not a part of electing into office an individual that I *KNOW* won't care a bit about DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION.

If nothing else tonight I can go to sleep tonight with a clear head KNOWING
I DID THE RIGHT THING FOR MY COUNTRY.

I feel happier right now then I have in a long... long... long time. I just wanted to share this experience with you as it will be one that I take with me the rest of my life.

I'm with you...

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c370/aravoth/write-in2.jpg

[afmatt]

Bravo!
You get it.

Welcome to the ranks of the "Ron Paul Writer-inners"

We will lose the election, but we'll sleep well tonight knowing we voted for the best candidate.

[Hurricane Bruiser]

great write up. I almost did that too, but went with Baldwin. Just couldn't swallow the two clowns.

I talked with my brother in Florida who asked me if I voted. He asked if I cast a protest vote and I happily said yes. If my one vote decided WV and decided the entire election, I would be happy enough. NO LONGER will I vote for the lesser of two evils if presented another better option, however non-viable that candidate may be to win.

[enjerth]

The greatest victories are always hard fought. Congratulations on your great victory.

My eyes watered as I read your post. I'm proud to stand with you, brother.

[dannno]

Didn't Ron Paul tell us NOT to write in his name and instead vote third party? That's what I thought at least. I understand your reasoning, but I just think your vote might have done a little more good voting for Barr, Baldwin, or Nader.

That was his recommendation. Ron Paul doesn't give any mandates to his supporters, he lets them make their own decisions. He even talks about conscientious non-voting.

[josephadel_3]

That was his recommendation. Ron Paul doesn't give any mandates to his supporters, he lets them make their own decisions. He even talks about conscientious non-voting.

right, that's what I meant.

[priest_of_syrinx]

Great story! I would've done the same if there was a write-in option on our school's mock election. I went with Baldwin because he seems to be the closest thing, even if he's not as good as the doctor.

[AdamT]

Thanks for the great report. Ron Paul write in votes are basically worthless in Wisconsin so I went with the next best thing - Baldwin.

[Menthol Patch]

Today I faced a hard reality that was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I just voted 30 minutes ago and now realize I clearly made the correct choice.

My experience today was as follows:


I bubbled in WRITE IN CANDIDATE and wrote clearly on the line ......

RON PAUL





You are a true Patriot unlike the big government monsters that voted for McCain, Obama, or Bob Barr.

[dagnybell]

I was momentarily tempted just before going to vote when I looked at the results coming in online. I was tempted to try to figure out who would be the lesser of two evils. I quickly realized however that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't write in Ron Paul - so that's what I did. :)

[RickyJ]

Ron Paul specifically asked people to NOT vote for him for president. Why don't people listen to him?

[enjerth]

Ron Paul specifically asked people to NOT vote for him for president. Why don't people listen to him?

Because we are independently minded individuals who decided he's the only candidate who will uphold the oath of office?

[N.cognito1776]

Write-in's are also not allowed by law in Arkansas, so I voted for who Dr. Ron Paul told me to vote for,

Chuck Baldwin

Not only that I sat out at my local polling place with Ron Paul, Campaign for Liberty, and Chuck Baldwin signs, with the American Flag and my dog.

I knew it wouldn't make a difference to everyone, but maybe, just maybe there was one person who thought about it, and maybe they will continue to think about it.

and that is how the Revolution has begun...

[Shink]

Awesome. I too wrote in Ron Paul. This has been too long a road for me to deviate from my convictions and from the good doctor who helped solidify all the loose scatterings of libertarianness in me. I wrote in Ron Paul with big letters and I wrote in Michael Badnarik for VP. The old school constitutionalist with rock-solid philosophical grounding and a firey libertarian teacher/activist would do fantastic things to improve things for me, my family, and for everyone who loves liberty. I voted for exactly what mattered to me, and I am pleased. It's good to be king.