Randy Young
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When I saw the numbers from last week’s primary elections, I simply had to shake my head in disbelief. No, it had nothing to do with who did or didn’t win. What had me in a near state of shock was the absolutely pitiful turnout at the voting booth.
Some estimates put the number of Georgia voters who got up off their Lazy Boys and voted last week at somewhere around 15 percent. In other words, around 85 percent of the people who could have voted just didn’t.
Just think about that. I don’t know about you, but I just don’t see how a government can be a representative government when only 15 percent of the people it is supposed to represent vote.
My question to those who didn’t vote is this: was it laziness, fear,or frustration that caused you to simply do nothing?
Laziness is a by-product of apathy. In my mind, I feel the “comfortably numb” syndrome that is so prevalent in our nation is the most wicked toxin to be found in our system today. I guess as long as folks have food in the fridge and the remote control still works, then most of them really don’t give a rip about much of anything else, including exercising their right to vote. Sadly, such is life in America in 2010, the home of the “what can I get for free?” and the not-very-brave.
Perhaps you were so frustrated with how things are that you have become convinced the political mess is so tangled and convoluted that it just can’t be fixed. Or, perhaps you just have come to the point where you feel your vote won’t make any difference.
If you do care about this nation and the life we have — and especially for the America that will exist for your children and grandchildren — you cannot allow yourself to adopt this mindset! To simply give up out of frustration is to basically shrug your shoulders and admit that we are beyond hope as a people. I just can’t see anyone who gives a rip about this place doing that or adopting that stance. We have our warts, but America is still our country.
Fear is something I guess I grossly underestimated until this past week. I met with officials from one of our local towns about their hosting the “Spirit of America” concert. All was fine until the mention of politicians or activism in any way was brought up. One official even spoke of being “afraid” (their word, not mine) of asking political candidates to make themselves available to meet the public. I guess I never thought about actually fearing our candidates coming face to face with the people they want to represent and be paid by, but there it was as plain as day — real, genuine fear. After I got over the initial shock of it, I have to say the realization of this fact actually saddened me.
I know many of you label me a right-wing conservative. And while I’ll admit I’m more right leaning than left, I would hope that if I’ve made nothing perfectly clear in our chats over the years it would be this: I have very little use for either of our main political parties. I believe you could take most of the “leaders” in both parties and put them in a bag, shake it up, and when you pull one of them out there wouldn’t be a dime’s worth of difference between that one and the rest of them.
In other words, too many are little more than professional politicians and, combined, they are killing the nation we call home.
So, with that said, I believe I can say the following with a perfectly clear conscience — I don’t care what your political ideology might be, do not let the poison of laziness, the disgust of frustration, or the angst of fear keep you from doing what millions have died for so you can live in a society that gives you the power to be heard through your vote.
In other words, to put it more plainly — get up off your rear end and let your voice be heard. And in this nation, there is no more powerful voice available to you than your vote.
Our government is designed to be a government BY the people, OF the people, FOR the people. When an overwhelming majority of us do nothing, it becomes a government by, of and for the government — and that is precisely what got us in this mess to begin with.
If you are one of the 15 percent who did vote, I challenge you to challenge everyone you know to do the same on Aug. 10 and in November. We need to be challenging each other at work, at church, at the football stadium — it doesn’t matter.
We live in an age of great uncertainty, and yes, fear. We need ideas, dialogue and engaged debate to get us on a path that people can feel good about following. I may believe what I believe, but that doesn’t mean I am above listening to someone who may have a different view, or even a better idea or grasp of something. The time for sitting back and doing nothing is simply gone — this nation, we as a people, just can’t afford doing nothing anymore.
That is, if any of us still care.
