Tell me everything

I got a call today.

"Hello. Is this the telephone that is registered to your home address?"

That's actually how they started the conversation.

"I'm sorry. Who's calling?" I asked in my patient yet thin-ice voice.

"I'm just curious if the number I called is registered to your home address."

"And I want to know who is calling me asking this."

"My name is Andrew and I am doing some research on the upcoming election."

"Right. Well, Andrew. Which number did you call?"

He told me.

"And what address do you show it registered to?"

He told me. I told him they matched, even though he had actually reached me on my cell phone, to which my home phone was forwarded. What's two minutes of air time between strangers?

"Great then. I'd like to ask you some questions about your plans for voting in the coming election." And he just rushed on. "Blah blah, traffic, blah, annual taxes, blah blah ... would you vote for or against that?"

"Andrew, why would I tell you how I'm going to vote? It's like calling me and asking about my religion. You wouldn't do that, would you?"

"No. It's not on my question list."

"So you're telling me, Andrew, that if they told you to ask what religion I was, you'd just go ahead and ask a perfect stranger?"

"Sir. I need to ask some questions about your voting. Can you help me?"

"No. I can't. It's personal Andrew. I don't discuss my voting with anyone."

He hung up.

Why would I tell a stranger - who verified my telephone number, my home address, and my name - what my plans were for voting? No real identification. No indication how the information was going to be used. Nothing to even make me want to help him. Just barfing a tele-script at me.

I guess they have the right.

Other than that - great country we live in.