Don’t Vote, Don’t Bitch
I ticked my husband, James, off this morning.
I made a comment about not having the right to complain if you didn’t vote. James said, “ You do realize you’ve managed to insult like 18 years of my life?” He also told me that there are arguments for and against voting, and I shouldn’t be so judgmental.
Whatever.
James' point of view
The only argument for not voting that I have any sympathy for are those people who are too poor to take time off from their multiple jobs to go vote. Sadly, it’s those people who need to vote the most. They are the people whose economic, social, and physical interests are constantly overlooked at best, and destroyed when inconvenient.
Why isn’t Election Day a national holiday? We can have a holiday for presidents long dead, but not one for choosing a new President? In what world is that sane or sensible?
We are all supposed to have a choice in our government. Unless you’ve broken some law and lost the right to vote, everyone is “allowed” to vote for his or her choice in government. Unfortunately, allowed does not mean enabled. Almost everyone in our country is “allowed” to vote, but many of us are not enabled to do so.
For some people it is the inability to take time off from work, others simply can’t get to the voting booth, and then some can’t even get to the polling place. Whatever the reason, it is a fact that too many Americans don’t participate in the most basic of civilian duties in a democracy: voting.
Found this online:
If any day on the entire calendar should be a Holiday in a democracy, it should be Election Day. National elections should be national holidays. State and local elections should be state holidays. Schools should be closed for Election Day.
As a practical advantage, elementary schools could be used for polling places, without interference from or interfering with the childrens education. And, we could very likely hire some teachers to work the polls. Teachers are good at giving instructions, and at getting people to cooperate and stay in line.
March 30th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
hi,
thx for this post. it helps me alot for my study.