Why get out the vote today?

November 4, 5:41 AMPolitical Issues ExaminerJudah Freed

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All the improvements we want in America and the world can happen only if we become activists for social change. Our most vital action may be voting. Sadly, too many of us in democratic countries are too under-educated to vote intelligently. Even if highly educated, we often lack the facts to vote sagely.

Too many of us do not vote at all. We think our votes do not count. We believe big money controls the elections. We believe the voting machines are rigged. We figure, why bother? Feeling powerless induces apathy.

If we do not vote, we abdicate our right to gripe about government abuses. Complaining about the government without voting to fix it is absurd. Any citizenry that gives up the rights of citizenship invites tyranny.

Do you refuse to vote to protest corruption? Not voting only encourages more corruption, Also, too many people in too many lands have died for the right to vote. Too many people still die trying to vote. Let’s honor their sacrifices and do our civic duty.

If we can vote, let’s do our homework before we vote. Go beyond the mainstream media. In the U.S., for example, we have TomPaine.com, MediaMatters.org, Reason.com, Air America Radio, NPR, Pacifica, Democracy Now, Free Speech TV, C-SPAN, PBS, BBC, and Deutche Welle.

Think critically about what you read and hear. Opinions and gossip are not facts. Think for yourself. Vote your conscience, not your cynicism. Vote for candidates who see our global oneness. Vote for laws that make global sense. Voting preserves democracy.

Want to do more than vote? Be an activist. Register new voters. Get out the vote on election day. Work for publicly funded elections with equal media time for candidates and ballot issues. Call for more voter referendums on new laws. Organize meetings about proportional representation. Support the use of paper ballots until we have tamper-proof Internet voting systems suitable for direct democracy.

Want to do even more? Run for office! If elected, practice servant leadership. Those who serve most lead best. Study Leadership by James MacGregor Burns and The Tao of Leadership by John Heider. Apply the the leadership and deep democracy theories of Arnold Mindell.

Yet if you do nothing else, vote in the next election. Your one vote may decide a close race that affects our whole world. If we do not vote, as Voltaire said, we are guilty of all the good we did not do.

Please read these related columns
My best Examiner columns on the 2008 Election
My best Examiner columns on Barack Obama
My best Examiner columns on John McCain
My best Examiner columns on Sarah Palin

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