Vote as if your life depended on it! In the U.S., we have the luxury of a democratic process that has the power to change things for the better, but most of us neglect our duty to the government in several different ways. On the most basic level, we have a system in which the squeaky wheel gets the grease and when we sequester ourselves in our "safe" homes, we have also shut ourselves off from meaningful participation in our communities, our neighborhoods and public discourse. I have worked in polling places for over twenty years. Other than the elections that brought us Presidents like Clinton and Obama, we never come close to half the people turning out for a single election. On one hand, I feel a little guilty when no one shows to vote, because at times I am allowed to make decisions, because I have voted, for the five or six people who stayed home. their voices remain unheard and quite possibly,they have no opinion or have decided in advance that their input is not necessary. Granted, the process is not meant to break down or fail under these conditions, but as Plato said centuries ago, "The price of apathy is to be ruled by evil men." This could not be any more important than it is today.
The power that is conveyed to local office holders is often greater than what we allow the President. In the case of a town chairman, county or state representatives, school board members or city clerks, they are all allowed far more leeway in how they carry out their responsibilities to us, or if they care to do anything at all and even if they do fail in their duties, or make terrible decisions, our ability to reign them in or correct their behavior is extremely limited. The president is not allowed to put any laws into effect without a state of national emergency. Even then his powers are specific and limited. He only gets to make certain laws if a national state of emergency is declared. Most of the time he either signs on to legislation that has been worked through the House and Senate. To complicate things further, even if he is not in favor of legislation, and refuses to sign it or sends it back to congress, they still can override his decision if 2/3 or more of the representatives want the law to pass.
The participation rates for the elections that determine who wins local positions, the ones that have more power to change our day to day lives, are ignored and frequently see turnout of under 30% of registered voters. One local election in recent memory saw turn out of less than 10%. That means that my vote was allowed to "speak" for more than ten of my neighbors. Democracy was not designed to be run this way. The second fatal flaw in the way we are being governed is that unless a rule or regulation affects us personally, we are loathe to write letters to our elected officials and even less likely to sit through a meeting. The procedures that meetings run by and the dry daily business that often takes place in city and town halls across our nation reminds many of us of school, hospitals or jail and let's face it, who wants to go back voluntarily to any of these places?
Finally, we need to find better ways of learning, just what the issues are and what the solutions to our problems might look like. this is perhaps the part of democracy that has been forgotten most effectively. we are continually being led down a path to division even though most of us share a relatively common view of what is good and bad, we pretty much agree on what is right and what is wrong and we know which way we should be going. On the other hand, the power structure that has been given everything they want for the greater part of the last century has been allowed to have a more than equal say over public discussion. I actually had someone justify the killing of innocent people who have no interest in harming (United States of) Americans, because it creates jobs in the weapons industry. This is like saying that we should create more car crashes to keep doctors in business. This ideology stems from the rampant use of tax dollars to fund industries that are destructive, hazardous and dangerous, while peaceful loving people are consummately ignored. how then are we to respond?
First, we need to speak up. tell your friends and neighbors just what you see as the problems that we face. Beware of just parroting back the code words provided by the power elites. We all know that our decision-making process has not been served by dividing us. Instead, both sides of the same coin are doing business as usual without real input from citizens. find common ground and enlist the help of friends, family and neighbors to stand up! Face down the stupid and ineffectual "leaders", hold their feet to the fire, attend a few meetings and demand to be heard. If you find useless stumbling blocks to real and meaningful change, or if your representatives are taking you down the wrong path, vote them out! Our environment, our children, mothers and families everywhere are crying out for significant change in the way we do the job of government. Getting our own house in order is necessary before we try to spread "democracy" around the globe. Few of us can fathom the power that we are granted in a democracy. Fewer still seem to respect that power enough to use it. This allows unethical, self serving and evil forces to utilize our tax dollars, our labor and our children as cogs in their mighty machines of destruction. When we stand together, these power elites can be made to heal. We can require all businesses to be good neighbors and serve the good of all, but they have had a free ride for most of the last century, so expect them to fight harder the more we get organized.
Still, the most important first step is to get educated and vote!
The power that is conveyed to local office holders is often greater than what we allow the President. In the case of a town chairman, county or state representatives, school board members or city clerks, they are all allowed far more leeway in how they carry out their responsibilities to us, or if they care to do anything at all and even if they do fail in their duties, or make terrible decisions, our ability to reign them in or correct their behavior is extremely limited. The president is not allowed to put any laws into effect without a state of national emergency. Even then his powers are specific and limited. He only gets to make certain laws if a national state of emergency is declared. Most of the time he either signs on to legislation that has been worked through the House and Senate. To complicate things further, even if he is not in favor of legislation, and refuses to sign it or sends it back to congress, they still can override his decision if 2/3 or more of the representatives want the law to pass.
The participation rates for the elections that determine who wins local positions, the ones that have more power to change our day to day lives, are ignored and frequently see turnout of under 30% of registered voters. One local election in recent memory saw turn out of less than 10%. That means that my vote was allowed to "speak" for more than ten of my neighbors. Democracy was not designed to be run this way. The second fatal flaw in the way we are being governed is that unless a rule or regulation affects us personally, we are loathe to write letters to our elected officials and even less likely to sit through a meeting. The procedures that meetings run by and the dry daily business that often takes place in city and town halls across our nation reminds many of us of school, hospitals or jail and let's face it, who wants to go back voluntarily to any of these places?
Finally, we need to find better ways of learning, just what the issues are and what the solutions to our problems might look like. this is perhaps the part of democracy that has been forgotten most effectively. we are continually being led down a path to division even though most of us share a relatively common view of what is good and bad, we pretty much agree on what is right and what is wrong and we know which way we should be going. On the other hand, the power structure that has been given everything they want for the greater part of the last century has been allowed to have a more than equal say over public discussion. I actually had someone justify the killing of innocent people who have no interest in harming (United States of) Americans, because it creates jobs in the weapons industry. This is like saying that we should create more car crashes to keep doctors in business. This ideology stems from the rampant use of tax dollars to fund industries that are destructive, hazardous and dangerous, while peaceful loving people are consummately ignored. how then are we to respond?
First, we need to speak up. tell your friends and neighbors just what you see as the problems that we face. Beware of just parroting back the code words provided by the power elites. We all know that our decision-making process has not been served by dividing us. Instead, both sides of the same coin are doing business as usual without real input from citizens. find common ground and enlist the help of friends, family and neighbors to stand up! Face down the stupid and ineffectual "leaders", hold their feet to the fire, attend a few meetings and demand to be heard. If you find useless stumbling blocks to real and meaningful change, or if your representatives are taking you down the wrong path, vote them out! Our environment, our children, mothers and families everywhere are crying out for significant change in the way we do the job of government. Getting our own house in order is necessary before we try to spread "democracy" around the globe. Few of us can fathom the power that we are granted in a democracy. Fewer still seem to respect that power enough to use it. This allows unethical, self serving and evil forces to utilize our tax dollars, our labor and our children as cogs in their mighty machines of destruction. When we stand together, these power elites can be made to heal. We can require all businesses to be good neighbors and serve the good of all, but they have had a free ride for most of the last century, so expect them to fight harder the more we get organized.
Still, the most important first step is to get educated and vote!
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