One of the greatest gifts that democracy has to offer us is the right to vote. The ability to choose our leaders is one that is envied by many in other types of societies and one that many of us take for granted. When I turned 18 I could not wait to go to the polls for the first time and cast my vote for the candidates I thought would do the best job for us. Many of my friends at that time were completely oblivious to the importance of the right to vote and had an attitude that was complacent. Even today I hear some people saying things like, “What difference does one more vote make anyway?’ and “It doesn’t matter what I think. The government will keep on running without my input.” “Voting is a waste of time.” These same people are the very ones to complain about higher taxes, too many social programs, not enough social programs, lousy infrastructure, or just about anything else that comes to mind.
This past weekend several members of our office staff were in Philadelphia for a conference. Our downtown hotel was about a 15 minute taxi ride from the remote conference site, so we got the opportunity to meet 8 or 10 taxi drivers, none of whom were from the United States. I simply cannot bear to ride silently in a taxi, so I always strike up a conversation with the driver. I like to know where they are from and what brought them here. The subject of the upcoming election was a popular one for this trip, so I took an informal poll. With the exception of one, the foreign taxi drivers had planned who they were voting for and had very strong opinions about their chosen candidates. Regardless of how one might feel about foreign workers making a living in this country, these workers had strong beliefs about what is going on in our country as opposed to the governments in their homelands and were definitely planning to cast their votes on November second. These people were informed and had deeply rooted reasons for their choices. Not a single one said that he was voting for a candidate because everyone else is or because his minister said it was a good idea or because he flipped a coin. All of them knew who they were voting for and why.
Last Sunday morning I was channel surfing in a hotel looking for a local station to give me the weather so that I could plan what to wear for the day. No fewer than five televangelists were on at the same time and every single one of them were talking about the upcoming election. Isn’t there supposed to be some rule about the separation of Church and State? Anyway, these guys were basically telling their congregants who they wanted them to cast their votes for. What is that about? Are we not people with the gift of free will and the ultimate choice to do what we think is right and not necessarily what someone dictates to us?
There have been 4 debates. Three of them involved the presidential candidates and one was between the vice-presidential hopefuls. Locally we have had forums where questions were asked of the candidates that we are to support at our own level. Information is available from this newspaper outlining what the candidates had to say for themselves. Plenty of issues were discussed and enough information was exchanged to give us ideas about which side is the right one for us. How have you been served by the incumbents? What have their records been like in years past? Do the ideas and plans of opposing candidates sound as if they will serve you better? What principles are they willing to fight to defend and which ones are unimportant to them? How does this match your own life and how will the candidates’ decisions protect your future? These are just some of the questions to ask yourself before you cast your vote.
There is a saying that if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything. That is very true. I actually heard someone say last week that an incumbent was doing a good job but that her vote was going to the challenger whose spouse knew someone she knew and liked. Come on, now. We should all do our duty and exercise our right to vote, but don’t vote just to vote. If you vote because someone knows the spouse of someone who knows a candidate, that might not be a good reason to vote. If you vote for a person because someone else told you to, it might not be a good reason to vote. If you vote for someone because they are paying for you to get a ride to the polls, that too might not be a good reason to vote. Please vote, but make an informed choice for the candidates which most closely match your own personal convictions. Find out what is going on in the world. It affects all of us. Treat your fellow Americans well.