Friends, family, countrymen (and women): Id like to humbly ask you to vote today. We are blessed to enjoy many freedoms in the United States that are all-too-frequently taken for granted. I know that mid-term elections typically see much lower turnouts than presidential elections, but Id love to have your help changing that. We are able to vote freely and on our own. We dont vote at the barrel of a gun or under other threat of violence. We dont have to worry about intimidation at the polling place. The only barrier to voting that most of us face on Election Day is apathy. We face a barrage of advertisements through the media, whether mainstream or social, that leaves many of us welcoming the day after Election Day, and it drives many people to not stand up for their beliefs. We buy into the notion that all politicians are self-serving, or, even worse, that the politicians on the other side of the aisle are the only ones that are self-serving and that nothing is ever going to change. Im gonna break my own long-held resistance to influencing anyone elses vote right here and now. Im not, however, gonna do it like the ubiquitous commercials, signs, phone calls, or neighborhood canvassers. This is my attempt to influence your vote: Please vote with your conscience, with your brain, with your heart. Make a choice based upon your beliefs. KNOW something about the candidate, the measure, the proposition, the amendment, or the issue. Dont vote a certain way because a celebrity, a politician, a pamphlet, a family member or ANYTHING else told you to -- vote the way you vote because of your personal convictions based upon a working knowledge of the issue. If you dont know who or vote to vote for, take a moment to research the candidate or issue. If you dont know which way to vote, you can leave it blank. Especially in the case of local candidates for school boards, community service districts and the like, you may know nothing about the candidates. Dont blindly fill in a box when you dont know what youre doing. There was a very prominent and highly respected judge in the South Bay Area of Los Angeles a few years back that was voted out in large measure due to having a difficult to pronounce Eastern European last name. Its appalling and reprehensible that voter apathy and ignorance led to a very fair and balanced jurist being unceremoniously tossed from the bench. I know a lot of the time a vote comes down to a lesser of two evils choice. In almost all of these cases the voter decides to vote for the candidate of their own political party, and the cycle never changes. While I encourage you to show up a polling place and cast a ballot, I implore you not to vote for someone that you identify with solely because of the (D) or (R) next to their name. Be informed and wise with your ballot. Lastly, bear in mind that our system has become skewed on both sides to the extent that neither mainstream party is able to find much of a common ground, and our apathy has played a large part in the vast gulf that now exists between the left and right. Weve bought into the belief that things are always black or white, left or right, conservative or liberal, all or nothing, democrat or republican or, perhaps more accurately, RepubliCant or Dumbocrat. While there are certainly exceptions, the Us vs Them mentality so prevalent in our system is counter-productive at best. As the two parties have polarized, its had the devastating effect of polarizing the citizenry as well, and far too many people have compromised their values in the pursuit of maintaining a political identity. Even worse, the change is generally subtle enough that many people fail to recognize their own radicalization by a political agenda or ideology that most likely doesnt exist to serve or help the average person in any way, shape or form. Our system is far from perfect, but its better than just about anywhere else. Very few people are satisfied with what we have, but far too many complain about things but fail to exercise the right to help bring about change. Even if your views are diametrically opposed to mine and our polar opposition to each other cancels out our votes, I want you to make your voice heard. Please honor the sacrifices that have secured our right to vote by actually voting. If youre not registered to vote today, make the commitment to register TODAY so that your vote can be cast in the next election. Thanks for reading, and as always, continue to be good humans.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 21:49:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015