Your Right to Vote Has Been Lost
Posted By Kate on June 20, 2011
Your Right to Vote Has Been Lost
Would you be alarmed?
June 20, 2011
Would it surprise you to find out one morning that you no longer have a say in your government? Your vote doesn’t count anymore.
When more than 50% of the population is dependent on the governing bodies at the local, state and federal level for their livelihood, the dependency will always vote to continue that dependency no matter how the other 49% votes.
The dependency vote is getting near that level and will go over that mark if citizens continue to stay home on election-day. What this message is about is complacency – the non-involvement to participant in the political process by staying away from the polls on election day and the likelihood of …. losing that privilege.
You know the account of Ben Franklin leaving the Constitutional Convention in September of 1787 and answering a question from a certain Mrs Powel: “Well, what have we got?” And he answered, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin believed that the Constitution was a unique document that gave the people the governing power to fulfill its purpose, but if the people neglected to carefully execute that power, its citizens would no longer be free and the government would fall into the hands of a monarch. Power? To vote. Free? To live a life of quality free of governmental entanglements.
We talk among ourselves and complain about so many governmental bureaucratic influences that are unfair, inconvenient, too expensive, unconstitutional, unreasonable, etc. and yet we somehow don’t see the importance of letting our voices be heard. We cannot voice our opinions directly so we elect statesmen/women among us to represent our opinions.
Oconee County is populated with quality folks – intelligent, compassionate, fair-minded, hard- working and independent. Slightly over 22,000 (22,327) of you are registered to vote. But on the local level, for a primary election, only about 30% (6,000) will take the time to stop by the precinct polls to make a choice. Why?
“I’m just too busy; I’m going to be out of town that day; I haven’t voted in a long time; I don’t have a way to get there; I had forgotten what day it was; I’m not feeling well; My vote doesn’t count anyway.” You can add your reason to the list.
A Citizen's Responsibility
The power to vote for a man or woman to represent us at each level of governing is the power to keep the Republic. Can we keep it or is it slipping into the hands of the dependent because we fail to keep watch?
Hats off to the parents who vote and set an example for their children who someday will hopefully exercise that privilege to preserve our Republic.
It could easily slip away and our votes would then be “null and void.” When our votes are our major mechanism to participate in selecting those who govern us, without them, we will be helpless to restore freedom. It will then be lost forever, as Franklin warned.
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