If you asked me which I’d prefer, a donkey, an elephant or a unicorn…I’d answer without hesitation…the unicorn! There’s only one problem – unicorns don’t exist.
What is my point? I’m getting to it.
Our country held an election two weeks ago which resulted in the worst voter turnout in over 70 years. The overall national turnout was 36.3%. In Pennsylvania, only 36.1% of eligible voters voted.
With all of the problems that exist in our nation – jobs, immigration, education, income inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, national debt, to name a few – why do so many voters choose not to voice their opinion?
I will be the first to admit our system is not perfect and I could rattle off a number of problems, including:
- the candidates are far from inspiring;
- our two-party system discourages alternate opinions and dissenting voices;
- our two-party system seems more and more like a one party system, especially in districts where gerrymandering and special interests play key roles;
- The unprecedented amount of money thrown at candidates is corrupting our democratic process.
But the only way that we can change a lot of what is wrong with our system is by voting and showing the powers that be that we’re paying attention and are not happy with the way they are managing our government.
Let’s get a few things straight:
- No candidate is perfect. So waiting for the perfect candidate to enter the race is kinda like waiting for the perfect man or woman to marry – they, eh, don’t exist.
- Voting does make a difference. In fact, it is the only thing that does.
- They’re not the same. Would I like Obama to be more progressive, absolutely? But to those of you who think the republicans and democrats are virtually the same consider who Mitt Romney or John McCain would have appointed to the Supreme Court. I’ll give you a hint…it wouldn’t have been Justice Sotomayer or Justice Kagan.
- We Need to make the candidates work harder. Your decision to not vote just makes it easier for candidates to work less and pander to special interests. One less person that will press them on the issues or care about their views.
- You aren’t smarter than the rest of us for not voting. I hate to tell you this but your decision to not participate in our democratic system doesn’t make you smarter or more enlightened than the rest of us…it just makes you more apathetic…perhaps a little lazier.
- We can move beyond a two-party system. I do believe this but you can’t just vote for green or libertarian candidates…you have to fight for them. You have to work four times as hard as those supporting the major party candidates. If you don’t, your candidate will just lose and with every 3rd party loss, a message is sent to the electorate that third parties are irrelevant.
- We can green the democratic party. Alternatively, we can green the democrats. We can push them on issues that are important like income inequality and climate change. We can make them differentiate themselves from their conservative counterparts and most of all we can empower true progressive candidates to run.
- Our ancestors fought for this right. Yeah, I’m going there. Women, minorities,the poor were all denied their right to vote sometime in our nation’s history. Someone fought to give you that right. Don’t take that right for granted.
If you’re disgusted with the way things are going in this country, than you have no reason to not vote. You sitting on the sidelines is not making things better.
If you’re waiting for that unicorn…you’re going to be waiting a long time. And in that time, things will likely get worse.