In the past 22 years (since I turned 18) I have missed voting only 3 times: once because I had given birth to my daughter only days before and was in no condition to shlep out to the polling place, and twice when I lived in Israel and did not yet realize that I could vote absentee if I wanted to. Every other Election Day (and for most primary elections as well) I have made it a point to go the polls and vote, even when there was no one very appealing to vote for.
My sister has decided not to vote this year because "one vote doesn't count anyway". My mother is not going to vote because "I can't decide who to vote for". My friend has said that she might go vote today "if I have some extra time". WTF? How can these educated, intelligent, accomplished women be so unmotivated to participate in what is clearly the most important decision facing our country in years?
So much depends on the outcome of this election. All the big issues of our day- the war in Iraq, the pending economic recession, the threat of a nuclear Iran, the fight against Islamic fundamentalism, the threats to our environment, etc. etc.- all of these will be impacted very directly by the actions of our next President and our next Congress. We Americans are very fortunate. Not all of the world's people get to choose their own leaders, but we do.
Think about this: If you were given the opportunity to choose the people who would make decisions for you throughout your life, wouldn't you? Imagine that you could choose your parents, your teachers, your boss. Would you just sit back and let others make those choices for you?
It's your country, people. You live here, you work here, you raise your families here. If you don't care enough about your own life to walk 3 blocks to your local public school and pull a lever, fine. But I'm going to vote today.
My sister has decided not to vote this year because "one vote doesn't count anyway". My mother is not going to vote because "I can't decide who to vote for". My friend has said that she might go vote today "if I have some extra time". WTF? How can these educated, intelligent, accomplished women be so unmotivated to participate in what is clearly the most important decision facing our country in years?
So much depends on the outcome of this election. All the big issues of our day- the war in Iraq, the pending economic recession, the threat of a nuclear Iran, the fight against Islamic fundamentalism, the threats to our environment, etc. etc.- all of these will be impacted very directly by the actions of our next President and our next Congress. We Americans are very fortunate. Not all of the world's people get to choose their own leaders, but we do.
Think about this: If you were given the opportunity to choose the people who would make decisions for you throughout your life, wouldn't you? Imagine that you could choose your parents, your teachers, your boss. Would you just sit back and let others make those choices for you?
It's your country, people. You live here, you work here, you raise your families here. If you don't care enough about your own life to walk 3 blocks to your local public school and pull a lever, fine. But I'm going to vote today.
10 comments:
Really? I don't think I know a soul who is too lazy to vote today. And I hardly know any undecideds, either. Most people I know seem to feel really strongly about one candidate or the other.
Agreed, cast that ballot, get out and vote!
This is one of our country's most important elections.
Do it!
Thanks for stopping by, Raizy.
Even people in Europe feel stongly about this election. I am like you on this; I never miss elections either.
By not voting you are saying that none of the bad choices that the parties have thrown up suit you. That in of itself is a vote.
As for the lazy people, and the truly undecided, if they don't care then they don't care. Not everyone cares about the issues.
That being said, I voted. (for Bob Barr)
Sorry, but not voting, even if you aren't too happy with the candidates or aren't yet decided on who to vote for (and at this point why isn't someone decided?) is just another example of "Let someone else take care of things for me" syndrome. Like other things in life, my candidate of choice doesn't always win, but when I put my vote on record the other side gets a clear message that the win wasn't a landslide, that there are others whose interests that winner needs to be representing.
Short of being dead I can't think of anything that would keep me from exercising a right that I have and am thankful to have.
Love the title, and agree with it. Become educated, make a decision and vote. Otherwise don't complain about what you end up with.
Raizy,
I voted (early). I am proudly supporting McCain, even if it seems as if Obama is going to win.
I vote in most elections, and I agree that it's important. GO VOTE!
"Think about this: If you were given the opportunity to choose the people who would make decisions for you throughout your life, wouldn't you?"
The only thing I don't understand is, that everybody says how important it is to vote, as in voting in general. But if your saying that people should vote because it's an important decision, then that would make sense only if they get the candidate they choose. But if everybody's voting for different people then one of the candidates will win. It's not 100% that the candidate you choose will win, so it's not really like your playing a role in picking someone that will make decisions for you. Out of lets say 100 people, a certain percentage will pick Mcain and a Certain amount will pick Obama, no matter how many people there are, it will be around the same ratio. So what's the big difference if someone votes or not. I can understand it better, if someone would be encouraging voters to vote a certain way, then they are getting more votes, but if it's just to vote in general it can go either way, and no matter if they vote or not it will go in a certain way. Plus if your saying it's important decisions that your voting on, then by encouraging others to vote, they may be voting against what you want, so then you end up loosing out.
That was all what came to my mind about the whole encouraging to vote thing.
At the end of the day, I voted, and I haven't missed any elections yet since I turned 18 :-)
babysitter-
I really tried to understand your comment, but I'm sorry, I just couldn't grasp the logic. Are you saying that it's only worthwhile to vote if you're sure that your candidate is going to win?
Super Raizy: I know I spoke in a mumble jumble. But I meant that I understand if people try to convince you to vote for a certain person. But I don't understand how convincing people to vote in general changes anything.
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