I participated in a revolution yesterday: I voted. “Okay.” you say, “Big deal.” Actually, it is one. To make things clearer, it’s two weeks before the actual Election Day, so I had to arrange for my absentee ballot (which I did when I was last in Sylva) and yesterday I had to obtain the appropriate witnesses and take the envelope to the Post Office, etc. Now, I don’t expect any particular praise for doing this, but I write about it because I think it’s important.
I don’t mean that my, personal, vote is more important than anyone else’s. It’s not. But, the ACT of voting is, I think, VERY important. It is, I believe, the essential act of citizenship. It’s the thing that separates the American Revolution from many (probably most, maybe all) others. Every so often, we all have this thing called an election, which leads to a (sometimes quite significant) change in our government. And nobody has to pick up a gun, nobody gets shot and everybody (even the losers) goes along with the process.
This was quite a revolutionary idea when it was proposed not that long ago (from an historical perspective) and it remains one, I think. It’s a bloodless coup which takes place at regular intervals. It’s the thing that makes our system of government possible and it’s not all that common in the world, even today.
Is it perfect? I don’t think so. It’s messy, time consuming, often inefficient, much too dominated by money and it’s hard to make sure that the “right” people get elected, at least until you stop to realize that they WERE elected, which is the whole point. Whether we like the result, or not, the people have made their choice. It also leads to the obvious conclusion that, if you don’t like the results of this election, what you have to do is work to see that the next one brings about the results you would prefer (and you can do that and there WILL BE another one, which is of the greatest importance).
I’m not going to try to tell my readers who to vote for. I have my own feelings about many issues and I have expressed some of them on these pages (and I expect to express more in the future). I do wish to urge anyone who reads this, however, to vote. Take the time to do your job as a citizen; find out which candidate you think best represents you, then support and vote for him/her. Election season brings along with it a great deal of discussion as to who is, or what constitutes, a “patriot.” I think there’s a simple answer to that: A Patriot VOTES!
If you don’t care enough to vote, it seems to me that you have little right to complain about “the government.” After all, the vote is all about your right to control that government, which is made up of “We, the People….” Do your job as a citizen, VOTE!
I don’t mean that my, personal, vote is more important than anyone else’s. It’s not. But, the ACT of voting is, I think, VERY important. It is, I believe, the essential act of citizenship. It’s the thing that separates the American Revolution from many (probably most, maybe all) others. Every so often, we all have this thing called an election, which leads to a (sometimes quite significant) change in our government. And nobody has to pick up a gun, nobody gets shot and everybody (even the losers) goes along with the process.
This was quite a revolutionary idea when it was proposed not that long ago (from an historical perspective) and it remains one, I think. It’s a bloodless coup which takes place at regular intervals. It’s the thing that makes our system of government possible and it’s not all that common in the world, even today.
Is it perfect? I don’t think so. It’s messy, time consuming, often inefficient, much too dominated by money and it’s hard to make sure that the “right” people get elected, at least until you stop to realize that they WERE elected, which is the whole point. Whether we like the result, or not, the people have made their choice. It also leads to the obvious conclusion that, if you don’t like the results of this election, what you have to do is work to see that the next one brings about the results you would prefer (and you can do that and there WILL BE another one, which is of the greatest importance).
I’m not going to try to tell my readers who to vote for. I have my own feelings about many issues and I have expressed some of them on these pages (and I expect to express more in the future). I do wish to urge anyone who reads this, however, to vote. Take the time to do your job as a citizen; find out which candidate you think best represents you, then support and vote for him/her. Election season brings along with it a great deal of discussion as to who is, or what constitutes, a “patriot.” I think there’s a simple answer to that: A Patriot VOTES!
If you don’t care enough to vote, it seems to me that you have little right to complain about “the government.” After all, the vote is all about your right to control that government, which is made up of “We, the People….” Do your job as a citizen, VOTE!
RSS Feed