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Do You Vote?

By Tony Mase

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 27Oct2008 Word count: 736 Viewed: 387 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

A few days ago, I received the following email message (I've edited out the personal details):

"Subject: Do You Vote?"

"Hi Tony,"

"I apologize ahead of time if this is in any way beyond the boundaries of our communication..."

"I don't usually get into discussions where people have such high emotions linked to their opinions on a topic."

"But, I made the mistake last night when provoked about voting..."

"I believe I might have lost the goodwill of some people last night due to my refusal to accept the fact that I 'SHOULD' vote."

"I had no facts, just a mere 'feeling' of it not being for me... so I sounded pretty silly and even said a few erroneous things concerning voting."

"I sounded like an uneducated idiot because of such 'feeling' based decision making."

"So, because I look up to you and see you as a very wise person, I just wanted to know if you voted or not. So far, nothing presented to me through my research has convinced me that I "should".

Although, as a rule, I stay away from discussions even remotely related to politics (at least publicly), the importance and timeliness of this question make it deserving of an answer.

Here it goes...

One of the many benefits of living in a free society is that the very same freedom that grants you the right to do something, grants you the right *not* to do it if you so choose.

So...

I'm not going to address whether you should or shouldn't vote, or why you should or shouldn't vote, I'm going to merely answer the question of whether I vote or not and give you my reasoning behind it...

Feel free to take from it what you will. :-)

Do I vote?

Sure do!

As a matter of fact, nowadays, Election Day is one of two days a year (the other being the Fourth of July/Independence Day) I use to "formally" discuss freedom, where it *really* comes from, and how it's maintained with my son, who's now ten years old, correcting the misinformation he's taught in school.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that personal freedom (the freedom to do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it, without money being the deciding factor) is way up there on my list of what's *truly* important to me, it's one of the things I cherish most.

My ability to enjoy personal freedom and to continue to do so flourishes best in a society where the freedom to do so is granted by the people, by way of a higher "authority", *not* government.

Unfortunately, and sadly I might add, because of the apathy of the populace as a whole and the desire of some for more power for themselves, our freedoms here in the United States have been very slowing eroding over the years (and I'm not talking here about just the "last eight years", so to speak, I'm talking about over a period of many, many, *many* years).

All that stands between further erosion and eventual loss of these freedoms (and to have any chance whatsoever of their being restored to what they once were), is people taking the time to become informed and voting for those who will work to protect those freedoms, as they were intended by the "founding fathers", even though sometimes the choice may be limited to who will do the least amount of damage at any given time.

I think Ronald Reagan, former President of the United States and Governor of the State of California, said it best when he said:

"Freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free."

I, for one, don't want to spend my "sunset years" telling my son and my son's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free...

Therefore...

On November 4th (Election Day here in the United States)...

With my son standing proudly by my side...

As I have for many years...

I will be voting.

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