A lot of people this year are pounding into our heads the message of “Just Vote”. MTV, P Diddy, Eminem, even little Paris Hilton agrees, it is a crime not to vote (P Diddy will even kill you if you don’t, or so it seems from his Vote or Die shirts). They tell you to “Just Vote” no matter what you vote for, that it is out duty as Americans to vote. A grand message… not.
Voting is not a duty. If that were so, you wouldn’t have to register. Turn 18, vote, or else there will be negative repercussions. This is a duty. Voting is a privilege, a right, one that we cannot take for granted.
As Americans, we tend to do this; we tend to forget that we are a small minority of people around the world who choose their leaders. While we are waiting for election results, many others around the world are waiting for the next cue, for the next military leader to take over. We can’t forget this.
To vote without reason, to vote just because you can, is taking our right for granted. To go into that booth tomorrow with your only formal education on the issues coming from paid advertisements, is to forget that we are privileged. To “Just Vote” is to stomp on the graves of the brave men who fought for our independence. Uninformed voters are the greatest risk to democracy, more than nuclear proliferation, more than terrorists, more than all the evils of the world, because it takes away the meaning, the core, of democracy, the very thing that our enemies want do to.
So I challenge you tomorrow to not “Just Vote” but to vote for something you believe in, and know that those reasons are true. Spend some time tonight going through the issues of this election, not just the national one, but the local ones. Read up, form your opinions based on facts, not advertisements or hear say. Just vote with reasons, not just to vote.
Voting is not a duty. If that were so, you wouldn’t have to register. Turn 18, vote, or else there will be negative repercussions. This is a duty. Voting is a privilege, a right, one that we cannot take for granted.
As Americans, we tend to do this; we tend to forget that we are a small minority of people around the world who choose their leaders. While we are waiting for election results, many others around the world are waiting for the next cue, for the next military leader to take over. We can’t forget this.
To vote without reason, to vote just because you can, is taking our right for granted. To go into that booth tomorrow with your only formal education on the issues coming from paid advertisements, is to forget that we are privileged. To “Just Vote” is to stomp on the graves of the brave men who fought for our independence. Uninformed voters are the greatest risk to democracy, more than nuclear proliferation, more than terrorists, more than all the evils of the world, because it takes away the meaning, the core, of democracy, the very thing that our enemies want do to.
So I challenge you tomorrow to not “Just Vote” but to vote for something you believe in, and know that those reasons are true. Spend some time tonight going through the issues of this election, not just the national one, but the local ones. Read up, form your opinions based on facts, not advertisements or hear say. Just vote with reasons, not just to vote.
