Another Election Eve, already?
Yep. And this is my thirteenth
‘Monday-before-the-first-Tuesday-in-November’ post, trying to encourage everyone
to vote.
Voting is arguably the most important right we have. After
all, it’s the only chance we have to determine who will lobby on our behalf in
the halls and backrooms of government. And it’s really the only time many of
the folks we elect pay any direct attention to us. Absent elections, would incumbents
or their challengers bother with the mailings, phone calls, town halls, surveys,
and personal visits? Would we hear from unions and so-called ‘interest groups’
if they weren’t trying to get us to vote for their favorite? Pretty sure we all
know the answer to that.
But voting is also among the least respected of our rights,
and that’s incredibly frustrating to me. Between efforts to limit who can vote, how we can vote, where we can vote, what we can and can’t do while
standing in line to vote, and gerrymandering and redistricting, where the politicians try to choose us, instead of us choosing them.
Add in the many ways in which our voices and our ability to
influence candidates have been overwhelmed by all money flowing from in from
PACS, political parties, corporations, lobbyists, business organizations,
unions, billionaire donors and all the rest, especially all the money from
outside the district where we are supposed to pick representatives, and I get
why people might throw up their hands and say, “Why should we even bother?”
We should bother because every vote matters in every
election. We should bother because the more people stay away, the more
the powers-that-be will think they can do whatever they want. We should
bother because the more we participate, the better our chances of holding
the people we elect accountable. We should bother if we care at all
about the direction our schools, villages, towns, cities, counties, states, and
the federal government are heading.
And finally, we should bother
because if we don’t, we’ll more often than not end up having to choose between the
lesser of two or more bad candidates, instead of between the best of two or
more good ones.
And wouldn’t that be a wonderful problem to have?
I offer below my annual motivational message, in case you're
still on the fence about exercising your right to vote.
After some thought, “I have come to the conclusion that
politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians."(1) Actually,
“The idea of an election is much more interesting to me than the election
itself…the act of voting is in itself the defining moment.”(2) And why
is it that “When the political columnists say ‘every thinking man’ they mean
themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘every intelligent voter’ they mean
everyone who is going to vote for them”?(3)
We know it’s true that “Bad officials are elected by good
citizens who didn’t vote”(4), and that “A citizen of America will
cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a
national election.”(5) Do we still not realize, after all these years,
that “lower voter participation is a silent threat to our democracy… it
under-represents young people, the poor, the disabled, those with little
education, minorities and you and me”? (6)
After all, “the vote is the most powerful instrument ever
devised for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which
imprison men because they are different from other men” (7) and “to
make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not just observers.
One who does not vote has no right to complain.” (8)
And complain we do, after every election when 'the wrong
guy' wins. If the only people who complained were the ones who
voted, it’d likely be a lot less noisy, don't you think?
Some folks may not vote because they don't know how to
decide who to vote for, or they're afraid they'll vote 'wrong.' There are
a couple of different schools of thought on that. On the one hand, some might
think that.
“Politics is the art of the possible” (9), while
others may subscribe to the thinking that “politics is not the art of the
possible, it consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
And it is true that the great thing about democracy is that it gives every
voter the chance to do something stupid.” (10)
Said another way, a “Vote (is) the instrument and symbol
of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” (11) But
that’s OK – “personally, I believe that our American system works as long as
you participate in it. You must vote and make your voice heard; otherwise you
will be left out.” (12)
It’s generally true that if you “ask a man which way he’s
going to vote and he’ll probably tell you. Ask him, however, why – and
vagueness is all.”(13) But voting’s really easy; and “all
voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral
tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.” (14) And just about
everyone likes to play a game now and then, right?
The bottom line is, “voting is simply a way of
determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of
fighting;”(15) “voting is a civic sacrament;”(16) and “the
future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.”(17)
And remember, if all of that seems like too much pressure,
you have an out: “Vote for the man who promises least. He’ll be the least
disappointing.” (18)
Please, vote. It really does matter, this
year and every year. Honestly, "there is no such thing as a
vote that doesn't matter."(19) Besides, "not voting is
not a protest. It is a surrender." (20)
My final pitch? "Talk is cheap, voting is
free; take it to the polls." (21)
If you need information on where to vote, help with your ballot, or any other assistance, contact your local Board of Elections. Lots of people are out there, ready and willing to
help.
If you're an early voter and have already done your civic
duty, thank you! If you're not going to be around on Election Day and voted
by absentee ballot, thank you! And if you vote the old-fashioned way, by showing up at your
polling place on Election Day like I do, thank you!
And thanks to these folks for their words of wisdom: 1 - Charles
De Gaulle; 2 – Jeff
Melvoin; 3 – Franklin
P Adams; 4 and 13 – Andrew
Lack; 5 - Bill
Vaughan; 6 - Nancy Neuman; 7 - Lyndon B Johnson; 8 - Louis L’Amour;
9 – Otto Von Bismarck; 10 – Art Spander; 11 – Ambrose
Bierce; 12 - Mari-Luci
Jaramillo; 14 – Henry David Thoreau; 15 – H.L. Mencken; 16—Theodore
Hesburgh; 17 – Dwight D. Eisenhower; 18 – Bernard
Baruch); 19 - Barack Obama; 20 - Keith Ellison; 21 - Nanette L.
Avery
