On Tuesday we will elect a new President. On Tuesday we will decide the fates of thirty-four members of the Senate and four hundred thirty five members of the House of Representatives. In doing so, we will help decide the next justice on the Nation's highest court, and possibly several subsequent justices. In doing so, we will also decide who will fill dozens of federal benches across the nation that sit empty due to partisan bickering. In doing so, we will help decide who will lead critical federal agencies. Thousands of decisions from the top to the bottom of these organizations hinge on whom we elect to the House of Representatives, Senate and White House on Tuesday. All of these institutions shape the way we live, work and play and after Tuesday you will not have a real say in most of them for four years. As we all know now, a lot can happen in four years.
You have four days to serve your country. When people try to rally the voters, they usually tell them that by voting they can get the things they want from government. I took this path initially, because it seemed like the best way to stir people to action. But it is worth considering voting as a collective responsibility. Many in America are fortunate enough to not be at the mercy of government. Most of us will not have to rely on the constitutional right to an attorney, because we will never be charged with a crime. Most of us will not have our land taken through imminent domain because we do not live on the best route for a highway. Finally, no man will ever have to fully bear the consequences of deciding whether or not to keep a pregnancy. But other people will.
I have avoided taking partisan stances in my articles because these are not partisan issues. We all have a responsibility, red or blue, black or white, gay or straight, jew or gentile, to help shape this government. In the course of human events, representative government like ours is a blip on the arc of history. Tyrants have ruled the vast majority of human existence. The right to have a say in things is precious and dependent on the participation of the electorate. If we do not participate, the government cannot and will not represent us. So please, vote. Vote for your neighbor, vote for the lowliest among us and vote for the sacred, fragile and once impossible idea that the people and not Tyrants should rule this land of liberty.
Advertisement