*steps on a soapbox*
For more than 12 years, I have encouraged readers of this blog to vote in upcoming elections and this year will be no different. Next week, on November 6th, I hope you will join me and so many other American citizens in exercising your right (and privilege) to vote.
To say that this year much rests on your vote is perhaps an understatement. You have the opportunity to determine not just what kind of nation we will be for the next two years, but what kind of people our children will be well into this millennium. The decisions we make in this election will impact our healthcare, Social Security and Medicare as well as our national management of debt.
While this election has national implications, as Thomas Phillip O’Neill, Jr., (‘Tip’ to his friends) who once said, “All politics is local,” and the late Speaker of the House of Representatives was absolutely right. This election is no exception. The political issues most important to you will always be the local one first. My home resides in the following Districts:
– A Congressional District
– A State Senatorial District
– A Public Service Commission District
– A State Representative District
– A County Judicial District
– A Superior Court of Georgia District
– An Agriculture District
– And finally a City Council District.
Every single one of these Districts will be asking for my vote, my concurrence, on some candidate or issue that will fiscally impact me and mine for years to come. That is a simple fact. And if I haven’t taken the time to know the positions of the candidates and the issues in these 8 Districts – well, I’ll get what I deserve: expensive, but poor Government service.
The most precious thing in the world is a knowledgeable and informed electorate. An electorate that knows what it is voting for and against; that knows the consequences of that vote and knows that they (and they alone) will have to live with the final outcome long after all the pundits that tout the social merits of any candidate or issue have left. An electorate that can recognize that words have meaning and liars can’t be trusted to look out for anyone’s interest except their own is an electorate that will make good decision.
We should never forget that a democracy is always only one election away from never having elections again. Thus, we, as a nation, should treat each election cycle as if it might be the last because one day… it just might be. Your vote is important. It is valuable. It is precious, but only if you exercise it.
I encourage you to vote on Tuesday, but know what you’re voting for (or against). My name is Bill and I approved this message.
*steps off soapbox*
Co-signed.