Why You Should Vote in the 2008 Primaries

How many of us hear our fellow Americans grumble about the state of the government and what our leaders do, only to watch the same people sit on their sofa watching reality shows instead of getting informed and going to the polls? In defense of my apathetic generation (and possibly the one preceding it,) I must say there seems to be a fatalistic mentality that we have been indoctrinated with that we can't really make a difference. We have so much information thrown at us from every side. How are we to know what is true? How are we to know it even matters?

Every action taken, positive, negative, or neutral, creates a ripple effect. Showing up to do the right thing is a spiritual endeavor, even if the results do not appear to be rewarded at first. "Every vote counts" is a well worn phrase, but if we don't embrace the truth of it, the day may come when we no longer have the option to do so. As Edmund Burke so aptly stated, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

In citing Mr. Burke, I would like to call on those of you who see voting as choosing the lesser of the evils. When the United States was new, there weren't so many professional politicians running the government. George Washington was himself a farmer (as opposed to the majority since being lawyers.) Now we have people running for office who I suspect have nary a clue what a hard day's work is, or what the average citizen contends with on a daily basis. Top politicians are armed with speech writers, lucrative bank accounts, and a lifetime of campaign experience. These things don't necessarily make a person a poor choice for a representative, but they are also not evidence a person will make good decisions on behalf of the people they are supposed to serve. Alas, very few candidates make it to the primaries without being groomed for it, so here we are again. If you feel you must choose between the lesser of the evils, you can at least vote in the primaries for your least favorite party against the person you do not want to see make it to the nationals (the author says this jokingly and does not advise or plan to do this.)