VOTE.

"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all" - John F. Kennedy

This week I read the following in the editorial pages of Harper's Magazine "Most people, we all recognize, pay little or no attention to the substance of national and international affairs. Politics occupies far less importance in their mental economy than does a football team or a television sitcom, and the underlying truth of a vigorous attack matters less than the conviction with which it is delivered (see Sarah Palin)" Leaving aside the author's obvious political slant, I can't help to agree with this statement. In 2004, President Bush received a little over 62 million votes for president, which according to the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, was the highest tally in American history. Two years later, over 63 million Americans voted on American Idol. No president has ever received such a mandate. This is not a problem per se, but I will confess to being a little uneasy about the reality of this.

With that side bar out of the way, let me just say that this is my first blog posting...ever. So I guess I decided I would write about something I considered to be very important. It is too big a topic for me to say everything I would like to say, for I'm sure no one would bother to read it. But there are some things I'd like to say. DON'T BE APATHETIC. Why would you voluntarily silence your own voice? Are there reasons to feel like your voice doesn't matter? Ablsolutely. Most of us can't buy votes. Some of us might feel like we've never directly benefited from voting. We might think our voice doesn't matter because we are in the political minority where we live, or we are victims of political gerrymandering. We might dislike the Electoral College. Or we might just not like our choices. To the extent that we think these things (true though they may be), we can't be discouraged to the point of inaction. No game was ever won from the bench. We need to do what we can to fix those things that we don't love about our country. That means voting, even if it's for some independent guy who you know won't win. Consider the below percentages below re popular vote for our 3 most recent presidential elections:

2004 Election -> Bush 50.7% Kerry 48.3%. Only 64% of electorate vote
So, George Bush wins with only 32.4% of electorate voting for him.

2000 Election -> Bush 47.9% Gore 48.4%. Only 60% of electorate vote.
So, George Bush wins with only 28.74 % of electorate voting for him.

1996 Election -> Clinton 49.24% Dole 40.71%. Only 54% of electorate vote.
So, Bill Clinton wins with only 26.58% of electorate voting for him.

Incidently, the 1996 election was a 30 year low in terms of voter turnout. That year the U.S. Census conducted a poll in which voters who were eligible to vote but didn't were asked the reason why they stayed away from the polls:

21.5% said "No time off/too busy"
16.6% said "Not Interested"
13.0% said "Didn't like the candidates"

Other reasons included "Ill/Disabled", "Forgot" and "No Transportation". Forgot! Not Interested! Too Busy! These are the death knells of Republicanism and Democracy. Thomas Jefferson told us over 200 years ago that "The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance". John Adams warned us "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty". Aren't we making it just a little to damn easy for the Karl Rove's of America today?

In all of this, education is paramount. John Kennedy once said that "A child miseducated is a child lost." . While education is well deserving of it's own blog posting (and much more really:-), let me just say this. Being an educated voter doesn't mean you vote my way. Being an educated voter means you vote based on reality. For example, as late as March of this year, 15% of voters polled in one survey thought Barack Obama was a Muslim. That's more than 1 in 10. It's not true, and it wouldn't matter if it was. Did it turn out to matter that John Kennedy was a Catholic? But, I'm getting sidelined, the real issue is that 15% of the people in this poll were ready to go to the polls and vote based, at least partially, on fiction. We must not allow ourselves, our neighbors, nor our friends and family to be swayed by the utterings of those who would use our fears against us. As one editorialist put it "It has always been possible to stir up a mob in America, whether to lynch a black man or to conquer a small country."

We don't change these things by staying silent.