Friday, October 29, 2010

You Vote even when you don't Cast a Vote at Your Polling Place

I often hear people say they don’t vote because, they say, their vote wont count or their vote wont matter. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, the bald truth is that even if you don’t cast a vote, you just voted. Let me repeat what I just said. IF YOU DON’T VOTE, YOU JUST VOTED.
How is this possible? Are you thinking that maybe someone else is voting for you, using your name? That can be a factor of course, but it is not what I am talking about.
Look at it this way, say you and 100 of your friends, co-workers and neighbors don’t vote. The next day you see who won the election and you find out that candidate A won the election by 50 votes. Now you don’t like candidate A and neither do your 100 friends, co-workers and such. By not voting, you just “voted” for candidate A because he won the election.
How could candidate B have won instead? Simple. You and your 100 friends and such go and vote for candidate B. Then you will note that your candidate will win by 50 votes.
To put it simply, if you do not vote, then you are actually voting for the winner of the election no matter who that winner is. If you do not take the time to go to the polling place and cast your vote, it is the same as actually voting for the winner of the election even if you don’t like the winner at all.
So in reality (as well as in theory) every single vote counts, yours included. You actually vote one way or the other even if you don’t take yourself to the legal polling place and pull the lever or write a check mark on a ballot.
Millions of Americans did not vote in the last presidential elections. So by not voting they actually voted for Barack Obama. Like him or not, that is who they voted for by not actually casting their vote.
Imagine if all those who did not vote actually went to their polling place and actually voted. There could have been a different winner. Yes, John McCain could have won the election instead. But even if a person likes John McCain but did not vote, they actually voted for Barack Obama. You can see how this works for any election.
Look, many people around the globe wish they only had the chance to vote for their political leaders. In fact many more around the globe actually risk their very lives to vote. Its that important and they understand that if they do not vote, it is the same as voting for the winner even if the winner is a dangerous tyrant.
So on election day, skip the gym. Don’t work late at work. Eat dinner a little bit later in the evening. Do what ever you need to do to take 30 minutes out of your day to do something far more responsible and important. Vote. It only happens at MOST once per year. So what is 30 minutes in an entire year? Its nothing.
So do what all GOOD and RESPONSIBLE Americans do. Excersise your right to vote and truly make your voice heard. Otherwise you are silent and the winner may not be someone who cares about what you care about.
Vote.