Voting: Right or responsibility?
Contributing writer
Connie Isaac said something to me recently which provided food for thought. Concluding from the button I was wearing that we are on opposite sides of the political fence, she told me, "Even if you are voting Democratic, please vote. What kind of message do we send the rest of the world if we who have the gift of freedom do not value it enough to vote?"
I must agree with Connie's assessment. I have voted in every election since I reached voting age in 1960. I haven't even missed a primary, even though there are often few, if any, contests on my party's primary ballot. However, I can think of several reasons why many citizens are not motivated to vote, and lack of patriotism may not head the list.
For one thing, it is hard to obtain much information about candidates, especially those who are not incumbents. Unless a challenger has millions to spend on advertising, it sometimes is not easy to even find out who is running. For example, the name of Lee Jones, candidate for the U. S. Senate, is rarely mentioned in the media. I know nothing about him. Unless I can get some data in the last week or so before election, I will have a choice between voting for an incumbent in whom I have little confidence or for a man who is only a name on my ballot. We need to give candidates a forum in which to make their voices heard.
At the Presidential level, the television medium has provided exposure in the debates. I blush to admit I only watched one of them, but there are other things going on in my life. One of the debates was on a Wednesday. Apparently the TV networks do not know that out in central Kansas that is church night.
The debate I did watch pointed up another reason it is difficult to become an informed voter. Candidates rarely give us straight talk on the issues. Instead they tell us what they think we want to hear and try to push the right emotional buttons. We voters are partly responsible for this phenomenon. In a long period of inflation, taxes have risen pretty consistently. If a President does push through tax cuts, the national debt rises to astronomical figures. However, stating this openly is political suicide. The last candidate I remember admitting taxes would go up was Walter Mondale, who was buried in the biggest landslide in history.
Another huge reason for apathy is the electoral college. Each citizen's vote matters in the roughly 15 states where the vote will be close. In those states which nearly always go for the same party, it is excusable to think we had just as well stay home. In my opinion, if the electoral college ever made sense, it has definitely outlived its usefulness. Four years ago, the candidate who received the vote of the people was barred from office by disputed returns in one swing state. In this case it was my candidate who was victimized by the system, but I don't believe that is my only reason for saying this should not happen. In a free republic the leadership should be decided by popular vote.
Another disadvantage of the electoral college is that Presidential candidates never campaign in states like Kansas. Democrats spend their efforts in states where they have some chance of winning, and Republicans don't need to bother. Of course, this contributes to the lack of information mentioned earlier. It also means that after he is elected, a President is not likely to be overly concerned about issues affecting out state.
In spite of all these disincentives, I will vote. By now you have probably guessed who will get my support. I won't try to tell you how to vote, but I will briefly answer two arguments I have heard from my Republican friends. One is that it is unwise to change leaders in the middle of a war. I certainly would change horses in the middle of a stream, if I've lost faith in the nag which got me mired in the mud out there. Pete Seeger's song about the Big Muddy has become timely again.
Second, I've been admonished for not voting "pro-life." For me the term "pro-life" means placing value on every life. An unborn child is precious, but no more so than a young adult slaughtered in Iraq, not to mention many Iraqi civilians who have been given "freedom" in death.
In spite of all the shortcomings in our system we can be grateful for the privilege of voting. See you at the polls.
