November is fast approaching

Hey, folks, November will be on us before we know it, and we all know what that means. Time to vote! Time to select the people who will represent us in our government. Are you registered?

After years of sitting on the sidelines, I was finally motivated to register to vote. This won’t be the first time I’ve voted, but admittedly it has been a while since I did. With the possibility that Barack Obama might actually be elected to run this country, and in a sense, the rest of the world, I felt the need to register, so Marsha and I went down to the county courthouse last week and did our civic duty.

I’ve come to realize that there’s a price to pay before one can truly be allowed to complain about what’s happening in government. The price for that is voting for our representatives. You have to speak your mind. If you don’t, you shouldn’t complain. After all, you had the opportunity to change the situation. If you didn’t take that opportunity, then you get to shut your pie hole when our representatives don’t do what we expect them to do.

It’s amazing, really. You hear after every election about low voter turnouts. It always seems to surprise us, because during the campaigns, we’re told over and over about how many people in the area are registered to vote. Yet, when the votes are tallied, the figures seem to reflect how few people got out to the polls. Now, we know that the number of “registered voters” isn’t really an exact figure. Some of those people have moved out of the area. Some have been incarcerated. Others have simply died. When you account for all of those demographics, you still have a sizable group of people, most of whom ultimately didn’t go vote. Why do you suppose that is?

One of the most prevalent excuses appears to be “My one vote doesn’t count”. I used to believe that myself. Over the past few years, I’ve come to eat those words. In the local elections, Angela Tuttle, 32, was elected constable in Hancock County, TN. Her father, a former constable himself, encouraged Angela to write her name in as candidate for the open position. Angela won the election by one vote – her own, which turned out to be the ONLY vote cast. Turns out no one else ran for the position.

On a more serious note, too many people think their vote doesn’t count. When you picture your one vote compared to the thousands or millions voting in any given election, it can seem that one vote wouldn’t matter one way or another. But, if enough people stay home with that kind of thinking we end up with what we’ve always had – a “good ole boy” network of people who continue on in office term after term. Take for example, former Knoxville, TN, mayor Victor Ashe. When he was first elected, Ashe seemed to be a true man of the people, a man ready to answer the call when the constituents needed him. By the time the third of his unprecedented four terms came about, he had become a very large cog in a system that listened to few and worked for even fewer. He and several members of the city council pretty well worked to benefit themselves and a few of their more financially fortunate contributors. It was only the passage of term limits which finally freed Knoxville from the grip of Ashe and his cronies on the city council, since so many of those who complained never actually showed up at the polls to voice their dissatisfaction in the form of a vote for the other guy.

Another excuse is “I don’t like anyone who’s running”. Often times, we’re forced to pick the lesser of two evils in an election. Such seems to be the situation in this year’s presidential election.

One the one hand, Barack Obama isn’t exactly well liked, due to his lack of experience in federal government. The fact is it wasn’t too long ago Obama was a small time politician in Chicago who no one had ever heard of on the national level. The fact of the matter is, 2008 was supposed to be Obama’s “Coming Out” party, of sorts – get his name out there, so when 2012 rolls around, he wouldn’t be a complete unknown. It was assumed that Hillary Clinton would actually be the Democrats nominee this year. Instead, they’ve got Obama.

On the other hand, we have John McCain. A seasoned, experienced politician to be certain, but not really the one the Republicans were hoping for either. It seems that many Republicans would have been far happier with Fred Thompson, Ron Paul, or Mitt Romney as a candidate. McCain is viewed by some as merely a continuation of Bush’s policies – effectively, George W. Bush’s “third term”.

In the end, it’s still the responsibility of each registered voter to make a decision on who they want, even if the one they’re voting for isn’t exactly their first choice. Not only do they have to make a decision, they need to make an INFORMED decision, which brings us to our third excuse, “I don’t know who to vote for because I don’t know where the candidates stand on the issues”. Be informed, people! Don’t just sit around watching the latest installment of “American Idol” or “The Bachelor”. Some of these people who are running for office will actually be elected. Do you want to be the one who just picked someone for the sake of saying you voted? Just your luck, you’ll have ended up helping to elect the guy who stands for everything you’re against. If you’re not going to pay attention to who you’re voting for, you might as well not vote at all. At least, then you don’t run the risk of electing the guy who’s a complete idiot, as opposed to the one who may be just a partial idiot.

And remember the difference between an ignoramus and a gross ignoramus. A gross ignoramus is 144 times worse!

Okay, folks, enough from the Great Soapbox. Those of you who aren’t registered to vote – get registered – NOW! Time is running out to be registered in time to be eligible to vote in the November elections. Those of you already registered – get to the polls. And don’t try the fourth excuse – “I couldn’t get off from work”. The law REQUIRES your employer to make reasonable accommodations to allow you sufficient time off to vote in your home precinct. Now, for some, that will mean you will, in fact, have to leave work, go vote, and then return to work. Sorry, folks. Do what you have to do. And, in the process, if you can find anyone to vote for who supports the Fair Tax Initiative, VOTE FOR THEM – they are your friends!!