Mental Matters
By Jennifer Goble
Many of us have received our mail-in ballots. If USPS isn’t your preferred means of voting, you can go to your polling location, wait in line, walk in, say hi, sign in, and vote. I don’t care how we vote, but I do care about choosing public officials and policy by an actual vote of the people. We, the people, do that by voting.
The top benefits of becoming a U.S. citizen, besides access for reuniting families, are to vote, travel freely, serve on a jury, get a government job, and run for office.
Many of us, who are lucky enough to be citizens by default, don’t vote, complain profusely if a jury notice arrives in the mailbox, never choose to run for office or work at a government job, and take travel in and out of the country for granted.
The Census Bureau breaks down the statistics on voting by sex, age, and every conceivable ethnicity. Combine them all, which is what matters, and over the years it is common for 50% of citizens not to vote. What? We might as well be permanent residents or illegals.
Why not take advantage of our rights? Men and women have fought and died to preserve these rights.
I too have thought my votes don’t matter, but I vote anyway. My Purple Heart WWII veteran dad never missed voting, even when he couldn’t see the ballot because of Macular Degeneration. He walked the walk.
John Lewis, politician and civil rights activist, said, “The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.”
I believe he was saying, we can scream, protest, kill, fight, degrade, destroy, or we can vote. Voting is more powerful than violence.
Voting is our way to have a voice. Saying the words is one of the primary skills for achieving and maintaining mental wellness. Voting for or against the people and laws we believe will help our families, communities, and country is a form of having our voices heard.
My dad, God bless him, would say, “Voting is more than a right. It is a responsibility.” I fear we are losing the foundation of those dedicated, proud individuals who vote because it is the root of our democracy; those who value our rights and do the right thing.
Closing with a quote by FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves, and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”
It’s time to vote!
Until the next time: Live while you live.
Jennifer Goble, Ph.D., LPC, is the author of “My Clients…My Teachers,” and the blogger and writer of Rural Women Stories: www.ruralwomenstories.com.
The post It’s time to vote appeared first on South Platte Sentinel.
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I agree with your Dad, that voting is a responsibility. I also agree with our countries founders that voters need to have skin in the game. so owning property isn’t a good criteria now, but something like paying your income taxes might be. I also believe that an ignorant voter is much much worse than a NO voter. It is not easy to become an informed voter, with deceivingly worded propositions, to politicians that have long ago stopped be statesman and are self serving. It is not easy to find how a person really believes, and we shouldn’t as the elected person is being elected to “Represent” us. But when was the last time you received a questionnaire from your elected represented, How else do they know what to represent, So it is harder to vote than it should be when we feel so ignored, especially in Washington where the representation gets reduced to the Party and not even the state let alone the individual. So for one, think that voting should require passing a test about the role of government and the roles of federal, state, and local governments. I had to pass a background test, take training, and pass competency tests as well as be fingerprinted to exercise my 2nd amendment rights, Voting is just one of may rights, that competency is should be demonstrated. Read what really happened in the famous “Florida Butterfly Ballot”, more importantly look yourself at the actual ballot, and you’ll be convinced that many people were paid to “vote for the 2nd name. Then we will have to work on getting better candidates, so we can elect people who are willing to represent the voters.
Harold – thanks for your thoughts. Always great to hear from you. I hate to buy into the conspiracy theories, and I think if the people don’t vote, the people are not represented. I have a hard time believing what any politician rants, but I think we all have the ability to care enough to know who we are voting for. Call me Pollyanna, but I vote and I hope you do too:)) Hi to Patty – hope she is feeling better.