Vote... Or Not

Nov. 4, 2016

It’s almost over. For many of you, it’s already mercifully, blissfully, thankfully over.

What is it we’re going to get, or already got, for our votes? And does it really matter? If we took the political ads and mailers seriously, it would be pretty obvious nobody is worthy of our votes.

There’s a stark contrast between the major party candidates at the federal level, but none of them have much new to offer. Politicians claiming the sky will surely fall if we don’t elect them is hardly a new strategy. Donald Trump’s explanation of things might sound different, but once you find an actual policy hidden among the hyperbole, you discover it’s all been proposed — and mostly rejected — before.

It’s a bit more difficult discerning the differences between local candidates, especially legislative candidates, because they’ve mostly just insulted each other for the last couple of months. The advertising from the state parties and third-partyindependent entities has been even worse.

The only good thing about this year’s foulsmelling political ads is that they were all so bereft of real information they encouraged us to do a little research on our own. Lo and behold, some of the candidates actually have real positions on real issues. Who knew?

Speaking of research, did you do yours on the boards of regents candidates? Do you have any idea what they actually do? Did you know they receive no compensation for their eight-year terms?

These people we’re electing make decisions. Lots of decisions.

They decide how much tax we pay, where we can live, what we can build, where we can drive and in which direction. They decide whether or not we can fly and to where, the kind of education our children receive, if we can or must have health insurance. They can decide what we can grow and where, what is in what we eat, if we have clean water.

They decide what we can put in our bodies, who gets to cut our hair, who gets to call themselves a doctor or a lawyer.

They decide if we go to war and which of our young men and women will be put in harm’s way.

They decide what we can send out of the country and what we can bring into the country. They decide how much you pay to use all those amazing gadgets to which we’ve become addicted. Locally, they even decide where we can go for a swim.

The folks we elect impact our daily lives, in ways large and small, starting when we wake up and not ending until we drift back to sleep ... on a mattress regulated and approved by the government.

Despite campaigns that too frequently appear to have slithered up out of a septic tank, our decisions on election day are pretty important.

Having said all of that, let’s skip on by the entire “It’s your patriotic duty to vote” business.

The same constitution giving us the right to vote noticeably does not require that we do. You, as an American citizen, get to decide who will represent us at the local, state and federal levels — or you can decide to simply skip the entire thing.

Maybe you don’t believe your vote matters or there are just no candidates in any contest at any level who have earned your vote. Maybe you’re just too busy with work or the kids or both. Maybe you just don’t feel like it.

But if you don’t vote you don’t have the right to complain about the government, right?

As long as the government involuntarily takes some of our money in the form of taxes (as it does, at a minimum, every time we purchase much of anything) we’ve earned the right to offer our opinion.

Voting is not the entry fee for participation in our communities, whether it’s doing honorable volunteer work or grumbling about our government. The ubiquitous “I voted” sticker, which many of us wear with pride, is not anall access pass to anything. Even if you stayed home eating leftover Halloween candy and watching bad movies, you are still entitled to all the rights and privileges of voters.

The best reason to vote might be the most selfish: to prevent others from electing someone who will impact our daily lives. Maybe it would help to remember that the people with whom you have the strongest political disagreements always vote.

Your one vote might not make a difference in the final outcome though there have been plenty of elections decided by a single vote. But wouldn’t it be nice to know you at least canceled out the vote of that person?