Why I Vote

Why I
Vote
A short essay
from the blogger:

I do NOT think when I go vote, that my ballot will ever decide an election. That's not why I do it, not even for township supervisor or dog catcher. I've never lived in a precinct where one vote decided any election. I've heard of such things, but I've never been there to see it. I have no pretense that my vote will every decide anything, by itself. The odds of this are way less than, say, playing the lottery or being hit by a falling piano.

I do NOT vote just so I have a right to complain. I will bitch whether I make it to the polls or not, and I'll feel I have every right to. I would not have given up my bitching rights if I were to miss election day. That would violate what we call FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!!

I do NOT think that I should vote because otherwise democracy will disappear. Democracy has been disappearing for quite some time, especially since the last presidential election when a record number of people voted. However, I DO vote because I still live in a democracy and this is an essential ritual of democracy. It depends on people voting in order to keep the wheels turning. Not every society votes for this reason. Some vote because they want it to look like they're democratic. So, voting is not the only affirmation for a free society, but it's an essential one.

Every human enterprise has its rituals. It is the practice of such collective rites which help hold the group together and further the group's aims. Muslims bow to Mecca, Catholics eat the body of Christ, capitalists do lunch and complain about the workers, car racers rev their engines, athletes pull at their jock straps. And so, democrats go vote. In this way we feel a part of the community that binds us, not apart from it.

I also DO vote because I want to state an opinion. I want the bastards of the universe to know this is what I think, even if they don't really care. It is one of those efforts I make like singing the national anthem. At a baseball game, everyone stands, but not many sing. I do! It wouldn't make any difference if I didn't, except that I would know it and feel badly.

So, when I walk away from the polling place, I feel great! I feel like I have just sung the national anthem again.  

That's another reason I DO vote!

Bud