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If You Don't Vote, You Don't Get to Complain
And I know complaining is such a vital part of social media these days, so Be Aware.But seriously.
When I was researching Murder Between the Pages, I remember reading a contemporary (1940s) account of women being dragged off a parade float celebrating their newly gained right to vote. Yes. Women being dragged off a local parade float by their male FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AND FAMILY MEMBERS because of their outrageous demand to have a say in politics.
And by politics, I mean legislation that affected these women intimately and immediately--as all legislation does.
Now, in fairness, many gentlemen in the crowd came to the assistance of these ladies--this is why we all need allies. We cannot do it alone. No one can. Allies are required. Allies are a non-negotiable component of success. To affect political change you need the good will and strong arm of the majority behind you--and even then, you're in for a hell of a fight. Make no mistake.
Anyway, women won the right to vote--the right to even cast a vote--in 1919. Please pay attention, girlfriend, because some of your great-great-grannies did not have the right to vote. My grandma could remember a time in which she did NOT have the right to vote. (That's right, I am old--and I wear it proudly.)
This right that you take so much for granted that you don't bother to use it...well, think about it. African American males won the right to vote in 1870. (As well they should have.) But our right to vote is still relatively new and pretty damned fragile. I have heard females argue that women have innate protections merely by virtue of being white or middle class or pretty or whatever.
NO. Get your head out of your ass, my dear. What are you, British? (That's a joke--British women only got the right to vote in 1918.) Wake the fuck up.
We still live in a time when men (some men) take it for granted they can legislate everything from our health care to whether we have children. We live in a time where OTHER WOMEN take it for granted that men should have the right to legislate our health care and whether or not be have children.
You think "it" couldn't happen here? That's what people always think. Look at history. And then weep. Or not. Because big girls don't cry. They VOTE.
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I’ve always voted since I moved to UK, coming from Hong Kong where we only had limited voting rights, I’ve always cherished the chance to have a say, even when I didn’t like any candidate - i think it’s a duty and it’s something every responsible citizen/resident should do - pay your tax and vote.Hubby is from Greece (they have compulsory voting in law but never enforced), and he used to cast “blank vote” - cos it was fashionable, like a protest vote. I always argued with him that, that was not a protest, that was apathy. They rely on you not caring.
Thank you for this post. My fellow Americans need every reminder and chance to understand the importance they can get. Willful ignorance is fashionable here and I'm afraid it's wrecking the country. Fingers crossed for this election result...
The thing is, I've worked as an electoral official most of my life and the thing that stops me taking for granted my right (and privilege) to vote is seeing new immigrants, often from fairly nasty regimes, reacting when told that they can take their ballot paper over to that booth and vote however they want... I've had new citizens ask me who they should vote for because that is what "election" officials do (often with a gun in hand); the look when someone realizes that it is their choice, completely, is a thing of wonder. These people came from countries that did not allow them to vote, or to only vote the way they were told with a gun in their face.
Then I look at America and cry.
We've seen so many people talk about how we'd never make the same mistakes that led to Nazi-Germany because we have history to teach us what not to do... Then America is doing it anyway.
Not only do you need to take money out of politics but you need to create a department/authority/Commission, independent of Congress and the Presidentiary, whose sole purpose is the administration of elections. Verifiable elections.
I agree with Josh... Americans must VOTE . If you remain silent then you ARE complicit is all the violations to your Constitution that the current people in power allow to happen.
One vote won't change anything, but your one vote, and your neighbor's one vote, and the farmer's one vote, and the homeless person's one vote add up to a LOT of votes; votes that can change the course America is currently on. And yes, that is an Iceberg ahead of you, an iceberg called theocratic dictatorship.
Please don't crash.