Count Down to Duty

One week from today – seven days – Americans will go to the ballot box and vote in the mid-term elections. Every seat in the House of Representatives is up for re-election. One third of all Senate seats is up for re-election. And countless states are electing their governors and house and senate seats in state legislatures. Lots of action. Unknown results.

Accept for one: poor voter turnout.

I live in an area that usually turns out for all elections, 50% of eligible voters cast their votes. Sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower, but generally around 50%. Most people think that is very good. Actually I think that is still too low. Better than most but still too low.

Wars have been fought to construct our form of government. Each individual of voting age has the authority to vote unless they have committed serious felonies or are incarcerated. You would think this would cause people to value their voting rights and exercise them! But not!!

Some would argue that an uninformed voter is anathema to the election process. I agree. Ignorance is an enemy of public order and progress. How can a society improve upon itself or intelligently manage public issues properly if voters do not understand those same issues or have a good working knowledge of how things should be?

The simple answer is: it cannot manage its public issues properly.

In place of logic and knowledge is manipulation and distortion. For what purpose you ask? The answer is: power and money. Political power and political money.

The ugly truth in America is that elections are bought by special interests with vast sums of money for candidates, campaign expenses and advertising designed to manipulate public opinion rather than educating it.

This is a complex issue but it is simple in nature. Money corrupts people and process.

Fixing it is very complex. That’s because the process is corrupted by money and power influences. This is a fact of life and embarrassing to our nation. But it is a truth.

Campaign finance reform has been attempted but failed. Many times. The very people who should be interested in these reforms are the very same people who likely will lose power and influence. So they evade the responsibility and allow the broken system to remain in place.

Meanwhile the system continues to mislead, mis-educate, fail to educate and otherwise manipulate voters. In this climate the will of the people is not represented. Indeed, the will of the people is thwarted. And many citizens get this sad state of affairs, so much so they fail to vote. They are afraid that their vote is likely serving the wrong ends so rather than be a part of the fraud they remove themselves from the playing field.

That is too bad for them and the rest of us. We need them to take charge of their own education on the issues and to cast intelligent votes. Being involved in the process is a major step toward solving the problem in the first place. Not voting is giving up.

Being an election judge I have to vote early unless I am assigned to be a judge at my own precinct’s voting site. I voted yesterday. I could not vote for each position because I did not know the people and their positions on the issues involved for them. For those offices and candidates I did have knowledge, I voted with confidence. In this way I may have made a difference in some races. I will never fully know that.

It was the best I could do and I am a constant reader on these issues. I even write editorials and news copy on many of the issues. Still I am unable to confidently vote in some instances.

I did do my best, however. And I did vote.

Now it is up to the rest of the eligible voters to do the same. Please do not fail the system any worse than the politicians do. Exercise your right to vote. And do so with intelligence and preparation.

You deserve that. And so do the rest of us.

October 28, 2014