In my District, 850 people are registered to vote. Less than a hundred did so.
An elderly couple was turned away while I was there, because their voting place had changed. They left in a great huff and swore to just not vote - too much trouble. At least they made an effort, I suppose.
If a national election brings out 60 percent of eligible voters in the U.S. this is called a great turn-out. Even in Congress, many important bills get passed without the votes of all Congressmen.
You want to know what is REALLY wrong with America? It’s the fact that we are far removed from the process of government. “Of, By, and For” are iconic words in a speech.
We have been spoiled rotten by “The Good Life.” We are insulated from hard battles once fought to secure various rights and privileges.
Those who inherit them without being involved, however, have no respect or appreciation for them. Children of rich fathers only know the luxury provided for them. Rarely do they know or care how it came to be.
The Tea Party chants, “We have to take back our country!” You might ask, who is this “We?” Certainly not the majority of members who couldn’t be bothered to actually cast a vote. The worst kind of hypocrites. The ludicrous thing is, though, that some of their candidates actually won. The other side was even more slothful.
In the vast majority of other free countries around the world, it is common for 80 or 90 percent of the population to vote on national issues. Countries which have recently been freed from dictatorship, or other types of suppression, routinely vote in large numbers. They wait in long lines, sometimes in bad weather.
They vote because they can. It’s a priceless right - something of great value to cherish. It’s a unique thing, reasonably new in the history of the world. Something dear to hold tight and not relinquish, a great thing of value, not to be “dis-respected” (using today’s street jargon.)
Not here, though. It’s just not convenient, or we hate standing in line, or it takes away from something more physically or emotionally rewarding we want to do. Besides, being trained to only be concerned with the score, we don’t have an appreciation for the individual plays. We want the big house, but shun the bricklaying.
The right to vote is a miraculous entity all by itself. In claiming and exercising that right we should rejoice and celebrate one of the most dramatic improvements in the history of the world.
The right to cast a vote, expressing your own personal desire, represents an enormous shift in the formation of society. It represents a quantum leap in the affairs of men since the beginning of time. You get a “Say.” You are given the absolute freedom to make your own personal declaration.
Americans, in particular, can’t seem to separate that from “the score.” We have somehow come to inscribe the Vince Lombardi Principle on our set of holy tablets. Winning is the “only” thing.
Well, winning is a good thing, especially for the winners, but increasingly it has, indeed, become the “only” thing in American politics. How an outcome is formed is less and less held to a high standard.
America has begun to embrace pandering and propaganda in place of principled campaigning. Appealing to the lowest common denominator in society has proven to be quite effective in “winning.”
As each standard is lowered further and further, they then become the accepted base for the next round of blight. It is a slippery slope, and once it becomes commonly used, it becomes extremely difficult to return to higher ground.
The right and privilege to cast a vote, however, cannot be sullied in the hands of an appreciative, honorable and reflective individual. It is unassailable, even though many toss it aside like a bothersome chore, or worse, prostitute it as an exchange of favors.
It exists by itself, alone and potentially untouched by follies all around it. It has a unique resilience, the ability to always return to a golden opportunity. It exists regardless of the voter, It’s a brick in the big house of Liberty.
Do we not value ourselves enough to grasp an opportunity to make our mark in history? A small mark, to be sure, but our own mark, unforced and hopefully well informed.
Casting a vote is an anointment - inseparable, perhaps from its effect, but a pronouncement that all men are intended to be free. Holding aloft that principal is pretty important you would hope.
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