Two hundred thirty-two years ago, a whole bunch of people stood up to protest taxation without representation. They put their lives on the line so that you could have your say.
What did you do with that right today?
What would they say if they knew that today only about 50% of Americans show up to vote on election days? That many of us make time to sit at home and watch reruns of Friends but won’t make time to cast that vote that they shed blood to earn the right for? 50%.
I’m asking no such sacrifice from you. Just that you stand up and be counted.
Freedom is a use-it-or-lose-it sort of thing, I’m afraid. As a wise friend and teacher of mine once said, doing nothing is making a choice. If you keep your seat there on the couch, you are casting your vote for apathy. You’re voting against democracy and civil rights, and not just yours, but your neighbors’ and your children’s. A day may come when you don’t have that right anymore, that the liberties that were fought so hard for by so many will disappear because Americans didn’t care to maintain them by the simple act of standing up.
All you have to do is drive a few miles to your polling place.
I’m logging off now and heading out to class. I’m hoping very much that I wake up tomorrow morning to hear that a record number of voters turned up this year. That they haven’t seen the likes of it for decades. I hope that when people across the world open up their newspapers, they’ll see that Americans are not just complacent, well-fed cows. That we care about each other and the world.
I hope that very much.
The polls are open for one more hour. What will you do today?
Will you stand up?
Will you be counted?
Time’s running out.