So, you're not voting: Voting and Civil Disobedience cont.

So, you're not voting.

You don't think your vote will matter.
You don't trust government.
Picking the lesser of two evils is still evil.
You don't like either candidate.
You are an Independent, not a R or a D.


What are you waiting for?

You will leave it to the majority?
Others to "remedy the evil"?
Are you "content to entertain an opinion merely, and enjoy it?"

If you think you are being cheated out of your vote,
are you content to simply say so, and do nothing?

You are not going to vote for anyone?

"How far can private feelings go without affecting public good?"

Voting is a right. It is a vital tool for the people, not a demand from the government.  In fact, some self-interested faction will be more than happy that you don't vote, it gives you less power.


Are we a nation with a conscience?

"The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue."

The public has all but forgotten Public Virtue, and has been plagued with apathy for some decades. 

How damaged is our democratic republic that only about 5% of our population choose our candidates? that barely 40% of people vote in midterm elections, and in general elections we're lucky if 60% of voting age citizens do?

Thoreau scolded those,

 "who were more interested in... (fill in the blank)...than humanity; and those who are not prepared to do justice to... (fill in the blank) ...cost what it may."

Can we justly weigh right and wrong?  

"All voting is a kind of gaming with a moral component," a questioning of right and wrong.

It is not a matter of who you like better, it is a matter of protecting justice.


Can your vote matter?

Thoreau lamented that he could not end slavery with his vote.

He said that, "voting for the right is doing nothing for it."

If there weren't such a huge difference between Repubs and Dems, I may agree more with those who choose not to vote, but there is a HUGE difference between them, and one party is much more likely to protect US citizens equally.

He was asking people, a person, any one to raise their consciousness to defeat slavery saying that one good person can leaven a whole bunch. Citizens in Thoreau's time were two steps ahead of us, because they understood responsibility and respect (which, it seems self-evident, are per-requisites to raising ones consciousness).

We have a responsibility, not to a party or a president, but to each other and for ourselves...to protect, at the very least, our system of governance- the best elected officials available; and at the very most, our collective freedom and safety.

We must respect the ideal of freedom and the inherent requirement of equality under the law. At the very least this allows us to fight for our own freedom and equality and at the most it allows us to fight for all others.

Thoreau did not see a pathway to make any difference with his vote...here, we are many steps ahead of Thoreau's time. Since his time, blacks, women and teenagers have all gained the right to vote. More people than ever have an effective tool-our vote- to affect the outcomes of the War on Terror and the growing need for civil equality under the law.

Thoreau says, "don't cast your vote merely..."

and I have the need to say,

"Merely cast a vote!"

Thoreau quotes Confucius in Civil Disobedience, saying,

 "If a state is governed by the principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of shame; if a state is not governed by the principles of reason, riches and honors are subjects of shame."

Can we reflect on our nation, our culture, and our leaders?

I will add a quote from Confucius,

“By three methods we may learn wisdom:
first, by reflection which is noblest;
second, by imitation, which is the easiest;
and third, by experience, which is the bitterest.”

The grand opportunity everyone has on Nov. 4th is to:

Do the very least- vote

To ensure the very most -equality and justice for all.

"The progress from tyranny to democracy is the porgress toward true respect for the individual."

We are always working toward a more perfect union, where all men and women are treated justly with respect.

Do not be, "biased by obstinancy," but, "do only what belongs (to you) and to the hour."

Vote!

 

 

"It is truly enough said that a corporation State has no conscience; but a corporation State of conscientious men is a corporation State with a conscience" 

 

 

Make a great day...and get ready to VOTE!

-Kathryn