Oh, you know them well. They're neighbors, friends, co-workers. Citizens who are either too apathetic to vote or, in some cases, proud of the fact that they don't vote, even though they'll offer you up their own political opinions -- ones they're usually parroting from Faux News or the pulpit -- at the drop of a hat. There are even untold thousands of women who don't vote because their "husbands vote for them" (believe me, I've knocked on too many of those doors, especially in Virginia). Bottom line is, these are the folks I truly don't understand. After decades of working voter registration and talking with folks about the importance of taking part in the process, I'm fed up with them. Sorry to say, but I am. Pissed off and fed up. I can certainly accept the opposing viewpoint of someone who votes more than the apathy of some "citizen" who doesn't care enough to get off their ass and get to the poll.
How could anyone say they care about the poor and not vote? How could anyone send their child off to war and yet not vote for the policies that determine the conflicts? How could any parent claim to love their children yet not give a whit about the policies which will shape their futures, or if their children and grandchildren will have any future at all? How could anyone with a minimum wage job and no health care be proud of not voting? How could any American wave a flag from every crack in their car or house and everything they wear and not give a shit that men and women have died for their right to a ballot? Oh, if every citizen cared as much as their right to vote as their right to bear weapons!
To me, these folks are the real enemies of democracy, a process which works only if its citizens participate. I've heard a thousand bullshit excuses and yet election after election hangs on the balance of voter turnout. Hell, the United States ranks 139th out of 172 countries in voter turnout! That's disgusting but I see no solution to this pathetic record.
Anyway, I'm heading off to my latest round of poll worker training this morning. Me, a gay person in a country that doesn't even offer me the full rights of its citizenry, and I'm pissed off this morning that the only way some Americans could be coaxed into voting is by convincing them that gay folks are the enemies of "America". Well look in the mirror, you hypocrites. Is hate the only thing that can compel you to vote? Maybe that even makes them better than someone who doesn't care enough to vote at all, I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired of caring that so many of my fellow citizens DON'T care. Rant over.
See:
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/votestats.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
