The Right to Vote

How many times have people spoken up only to be forced down by a stronger voice, or by those who think they are of a higher intelligence? It's been in our culture throughout history. Those who think their views about how people should be controlled are better than their opponents. People with the stronger influence gain the upper hand and thereby control the populace. Leaders and followers, pessimist's and enthusiasts, we are humans in every regard. Thankfully in our country the populace controls the controllers, at least one day every two to six years, after that we're under their control. They proceed to make the laws that save us from our freedoms whether we like it or not.

However, we have the right to veto change. Rights are what a civilized world revolves around. If the people's right to speak for themselves were revoked, how long would today's society last? What would it evolve into? Sounds like a totalitarian government would love to move in and reap the benefits of an apathy bound people. The right to vote seems to be the alternative that many people do not exercise. "Let the other guy do it I don't have the time. Just make sure you pick the guy I want." Or, "You voted for them I didn't! Now you see what you've done to us." "I wish I could have voted but I just didn't have the time." "I don't feel like it."

Excuse after excuse, the only ones who seem to have the time are the people that are duty bound and patriotic or are so partisan about their opinions that they will do anything to make sure their party has the upper hand. Some people may not like it but isn't the point, majority rules.
If we are swayed by louder voices of a smaller group, who have an agenda to serve their personal needs, how that will help the whole? We must continue to be involved. Town meetings are an alternative to keep the peoples voice heard, but in a large city where can a town meeting be held? Even in a village of modest size, say ten to fifteen thousand the meeting would have to be held in a specially designed stadium. Who has the money to build such a facility? What city or politician has the ambition or courage to propose such an idea? Using our massive technological imagination, what if we were to devise a voting system where a voter can call into a central location to cast his or her vote. They might be able to do this by picking up a ballot at a financial institution or a village hall. Then to register their vote they pick up the phone and dial. Maybe they could enter their social security number followed by their voting decision. This might raise the number of people voting by millions.

Unfortunately, an unwillingness to change a system that has been in place since the country was founded would be a major obstacle. The old guard would become a brick wall. A new idea to replace an old system would be met with every kind of opposition, not to mention the money that would be involved and fraud would be rampant. Someone would find a way to skew the vote in their favor.
But most of the time people don't change because they are afraid to do so. Would we change if someone were in office that attempted to do anything they wished? Like maybe, walking into a store, taking the spoils of office off the shelf, and then walking out without paying. What could we do if they had the power of fear behind them? This may be only a movie scenario but what if this happened. What if we elected a common person with a sordid past? One who had the voice to sway the voters in their favor. A person who had no previous political or law experience and promised to change once in office, what would keep that person from reverting to their old behavior? A naiveté that anyone in office will change for the better? Corrupted people will always be corruptible or absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Then again, there are far more admirable people in the world, those who have only the betterment of their neighbors in mind. These people are able to set examples for the direction of our future. They have the uncanny intelligence and ability to motivate and use that motivation to bring people together for upward movement of integrity. Thankfully, these people far outnumber those ten to fifteen percent of society who are inclined only to self-gratification.




Copyright by Bruce Humphrey