Vote or Shut Up!

“Every country has the government it deserves.”

Josephe de Maistre-French writer and diplomat

Greetings folks! Now that the conventions have come to a close, the parties have made their pitch about who they are and who they want you to believe the other guys are, it’s time to make a decision. It’s time to watch the high priced ads about whether this candidate will or will not be available to answer a hypothetical call at 3 am. It’s time to listen to the candidates tell you that the other party doesn’t have your best interests at heart and that they killed a woman, her baby and the dog that witnessed it. It’s time to listen to the candidates tell you about a law that was enacted that will bankrupt you and spread disease and pestilence to you and your entire family despite the fact that no such law exists. It’s time to take the facts, not the propaganda, the misinformation, or the stuff they call facts, sit down and make an informed decision. Folks it’s time to vote.

I’ll be honest, I’m very disturbed, well pissed would be a better term, about the number of celebrities, particularly in the African-American community, who have publicly stated that they have not, do not, and will not vote. I know some of you may be thinking “it’s a free country and every person has a right to do or not do whatever they want.” This is true. So long as the exercise of your rights, privileges and immunities don’t infringe upon those of others you have the right to do whatever you want. For example, you have the right to listen to Jay-Z, Maroon 5, Florence and the Machine or Jimmy Buffet. However, you do not have the right to listen to them at the highest possible decibel, at 3 o’clock in the morning, in surround sound. There are limits—boundaries to our rights so that others are not negatively affected by the exercise of said rights. One of the rights that should never be abridged, amended or infringed upon is the right to vote.

Voting is one of the most sacred components of a democracy. It is the opportunity to elect the officials who will represent us in OUR government. These are the people who will let Congress know that District 24 in Florida needs new roads. These are the people who will tell their fellow congressmen that Mississippi needs help with improving their struggling school system. These are the people who will speak for you, act for you, represent you and legislate on your behalf. Whom we choose matters.

There is no comprehensible or defensible reason as to why a person- rich, poor, famous or infamous- who may legally vote, chooses not to. The excuse that “my vote doesn’t count” is just that, an excuse. Recent history informs us that every vote counts (see, Bush/Gore 2000). The excuse that “you’ve been wronged before by politicians” is not a good one either. I’ve been wronged by women before but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop dating them. It means that I’ll learn from my mistakes and choose wiser next time. The excuse “we’re just choosing from the lesser of two evils” doesn’t fly either. None of us are perfect and neither are our candidates. We may demand more and hope for more, but we cannot be shocked and in awe when they fall short of our lofty expectations. The best and brightest of our time have all had their flaws, King, Malcolm, Kennedy and Clinton. Their mistakes don’t make them evil, their mistakes make them human.  Josh Billings once said, “Every man has his follies—and often they are the most interesting thing he has got.”  We should judge our leaders and politicians based on all the good they do. While they may have engaged in some morally reprehensible behavior, they still acted for what was best for society.

I have no misconceptions about our government. I know that it’s not perfect. I understand that some of the people who represent us in government are crooked, corrupt and unaware of the power of Twitter. However, just because the system isn’t perfect doesn’t mean you scrap the whole thing. That would be like trashing your car because it doesn’t fly or come with an espresso machine. No, we ride the horse that we’ve been given until we can find a better one in hopes that we may win the race.  Just as there’s no way to win that race without participating, there’s no way to change the government when we refuse to get involved in it. Democracy is truly one of the greatest forms of government in the world because it allows people to choose the government that they want. George Bernard Shaw once said, “Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.” If we do not participate then we have no right to complain.

Who you vote for depends largely on your morals, values and your station in life so I won’t tell you whom to vote for. Yes, I feel strongly about one candidate over another whose name rhymes with Orama, but you don’t have to vote for my candidate. I’d be happy with you just voting. For all the ills that reside in our government, many of them could be cured if more of us voted. Too many people risked life, limb and freedom for you to exercise that right so voting should be a duty, a requirement, an obligation rather than a choice.

At the outset of our great nation voting was a privilege that was extended only to land-owning protestant white men. Women, Native Americans, religious minorities, slaves, and indentured servants were excluded. While the franchise was extended to African Americans and Mexican Americans in the 19^th century, physical intimidation, threats, economic reprisals and Jim Crow laws prevented the right from truly being extended to most of these individuals. By 1910, fewer than 20% of African American citizens in the Southern states voted. In some southern states, fewer than 2% voted. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, almost a century later, that progress was made in ensuring the right to vote as guaranteed by the 15^th Amendment. Despite playing a key role in the Civil Rights Movement, women didn’t gain the right to vote until 1920 after the passage of the 19^th Amendment.

Many of us, because of our skin color, gender, race, ethnicity or religious views, have only enjoyed the right to vote for less than a hundred years, despite living in a country that is more than 200/400 years old.* The right and privilege to vote was born out of strife, blood, sweat and tears; too much for us not to exercise it. As the election nears I urge you to register to vote if you haven’t already done so. If you need an ID to vote, go get one. If you need a ride to the polls, go find one. If you need help understanding the issues, go look them up so that you can make an informed decision. At the end of the day, if we end up with a government we don’t like and that doesn’t work, we only have ourselves to blame. For we have just gotten the government that we deserve. So we have a choice; either Vote or Shut Up! Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!

*(200 if you go back to the date of the Constitution, 400 if you go back to the date of the first successful English settlement).