Please vote. For those who say “it doesn’t make a difference, they are all the same,” riddle me this, why would a group try so hard to STOP you from voting if it doesn’t make a difference? A quick review.
1. Gerrymandering- Gerrymandering manipulate the boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor one party or class. This allows a political party, its candidates and operatives were not in fear of losing power. The Supreme Court in June of 2022, reinstated a racially gerrymandered map in Louisiana.
2. Voting Restrictions – 19 states enacted voting restrictions in 2021 around the number of days to vote, mail in ballots and types of identification permissible to vote after ex-presidents Trumps lost by both majority and the electoral college in 2020.
3. Grandfathering – A grandfather clause is an exemption that allows persons or entities to continue with activities or operations that were approved before the implementation of new rules, regulations, or laws. The term came from a law to restrict the rights of African Americans to vote post reconstruction. A literacy test was required to vote. The problem is most whites could not read, but this was not the group politicians of the time wanted to limit the ability to vote. The was law changed to require a literacy test unless your “grandfather” could vote thus allowing whites to vote but not African Americans.
The only way your vote doesn’t count is if you actually don’t vote. Do the math. Only 65% of the eligible population is registered to vote and of that only 66% vote. Meaning only 42% of eligible voters vote. This rather apathetic approach means the elected officials may or may reflect the views of the country and most likely they don’t. A strategic push by one group makes it easy to elect officials who are on the fringe and don’t represent the views and wishes of the majority.
Freedom is easily lost1. You have only one vote, but stop the victim act. Educate yourself with facts and challenge rhetoric rather than sigh in resignation. If someone says the <insert candidate name> was good for the city, good the state, good for the country, ask for examples. If you are prepared, you can refute or agree. A blanket, x was bad and y was good does not suffice. You may or may not change a view point, however, rebuttal with the truth, starts to disarm the lies.
Decouple the insanity of false logic from reality. For example, locally there has been a debate about a new baseball stadium for the Oakland A’s. One argument against was, “We have a homeless problem.” Irrelevancy, we’re going to have a homeless problem stadium or no stadium. Another argument, “A billionaire is going to make money.” That’s true, no doubt, but why does it make the stadium proposal bad. Any thing that makes money is now bad? Third example, “We don’t know the future, we did not have Facebook 28 years ago,” – that’s true; but the conclusion a new stadium should not be built because we don’t know the future, that’s just crazy talk.2
Granted, life can be some what of a Faustian bargain, a subtle crossing of lines, a blurred vision to achieve goals. But how far are you willing to go before you realize it’s to late and you’ve abdicated something major? A previous post covered the dangers of this with examples from the Middle East and Asia. This Fourth of July let all eligible citizens with register and vote there may no freedom to ring.
1 See Previous Post from 2019
2 The caveat is different than thinking through an issue and impact. For example, when China implemented a one child policy in 1980 to slow rapid growth. They must not have considered or didn’t care about who would take care of the aging population from that rapid growth. They must not have considered or didn’t care with boys favored over girls,hence baby girls given up for foreign adoption that the men would greatly out number the women leaving men with no women to marry
Balancing on Unstable Surfaces 