In case you have been living in a cave that doesn’t have
WiFi or cell phone service, I am here to tell you that the United States
is holding an election in two days. Shocking,
right? Mailboxes across the country have
been stuffed with political flyers.
Dozens of ads run every hour on television channels. Close to $1,800,000,000 will have been spent
on the Presidential race alone. (Typing
that number made me want to hurl. Think
about what that kind of money could do if used for things like…oh…helping
victims of hurricane Sandy.)
I admit that I like being a United States citizen. I believe in the process, flawed as it may
be. To me, voting isn’t only a right or
a privilege, it is an obligation. People
have fought and died for that right. Not
voting would be like saying their sacrifice doesn’t matter. And it does.
So, every election cycle I do my research top to
bottom. I know who the candidates in the
national, state and local elections are.
I look at their voting records or the candidate’s past work history and experience. I listen to the things they say they believe
in, filter out the stuff that sounds great, but can never get done (kind of
like the high school student council candidate promising cars for everyone) and
make a judgment call based on who I think is most qualified to handle the sheer
madness that comes with being a government official.
Maybe it’s just me, but this year it seems harder to
discover what candidates stand for.
Instead, my mailbox, answering machine and television are filled with
angry ads telling me how evil the other side is. They are going to raise my taxes, destroy my
child’s hope of an education and take away all possibility of medical attention
for people like my grandmother.
Every time I see those messages I wonder, why anyone would
think I’d pay attention to what the negative advertisements say. First off, it makes me think that the person
behind the ad (not necessarily the candidate, since so many of the ads are paid
for by PACs) is just mean-spirited.
Second, it annoys me that someone wishes me to vote out of fear instead
of an embracing of ideas. What good can
possibly come out of that?
All parties (or the parties who have enough money to use
these advertising tools) utilize negative ads.
Clearly, they must be working for people to continue to plaster them
across our airwaves. And that fact alone
makes me angrier than any other.
Never have I had an opportunity to vote for a candidate who
I agree with on every issue, which is good.
Voting isn’t just about what is good for me—a redhead who lives in the Midwest. It’s about
what’s good for people who live in deserts and on coastlines, who are recent
immigrants or whose families can be traced back to the Mayflower. This country is bigger than just me and my
needs. And yet, though that is true,
even more wonderful is the knowledge that this country only runs if people like
me go to the polls and vote.
Every vote counts.
Everyone gets a say in what they believe in. With that in mind, today, I encourage all my
fellow citizens to ignore the fear and anger that fills the rhetoric we hear
and instead embrace the true reason we vote.
Because we matter. A vote based
on ideas – no matter if we vote for the winning candidate—matters. And when the election is over and the votes
have been counted, I challenge all my fellow citizens to be proud of the
results. Your candidate may not get the
job, but by voting you and all of us who live in the United States of America have won.
1 comment:
Myself, I don't vote for people, or for ideals. I couldn't, as someone opposed to imperialism, to domestic structural oppression, and suspicious about capitalism my ideals are not only not represented by politicians, they are not popular with much of the electorate. I vote based on (predicted) outcomes. Most of the time the choice is between being metaphorically stepped on, and metaphorically stabbed. Well, getting stepped on is bad, but it is clear that being stabbed is much worse.
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