Vote!

Word count for this week's article:  367

Approximate time to read:  About 1.5 minutes



Muhammad Ali said “Service is the rent we pay for our space on Earth.” We Americans have an additional expense; voting is the price we pay for the privilege of living in this country.

The Founders didn’t create a perfect country. How could they? They were humans and since humans aren’t perfect, they couldn’t create something perfect. But they did bequeath us a government better than any government before or since. They also had the foresight to allow us to amend that government should we see fit.

Again, it’s not perfect, but remember what Winston Churchill said: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.  Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”  We need look no further than the Rooskie’s failed 74-year experiment to see just how bad some forms of government can be.

There are infinite time-worn excuses for not voting: there’s no difference between the candidates, my vote doesn’t matter, they’re all crooks, yada, yada, yada. While I admit that there are many less than honorable politicians, it is dangerous to condemn an entire group of people (I say that as a life insurance agent 😊). It’s up to each of us to do our homework and find the best (or at minimum, the least objectionable) candidate.

I’ve seen statistics that the mid-term elections only turn out 70% of the voters that the Presidential elections do. That certainly doesn’t reflect well on the electorate.

In addition to the 435 congressional races, a third of the Senate is also at stake. Additionally, some State governments have seats in play, as well as many local municipalities and school boards. And since approximately ⅔ of our property taxes go to education, it would behoove all of us to research our board of education candidates.

I sincerely hope that everyone reading this message has already voted (what the hell is up with early voting?) or plans to later on today. And if you didn’t plan to (or forgot that today is election day), I won’t be upset if this message guilts you into exercising your most sacred right.