The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

People, I realize that it's a bummer that you can't cast your vote every November by sending a text message or logging on to a website but honestly, it is ONE day a year. There is absolutely no excuse not to excerise your right to vote. By doing so you are not only surrendering your freedom, you are condoning the behavior of politicians who know they don't have to be accountable to you.

Now I hear some of you out there saying "I don't like either one of these people so I'm not going to vote". The issue with this argument is that it creates a circular problem. You don't vote because you don't like either of the guys, politicians assume that you (middle and lower class America) for the most part won't vote so they run the same guy (or someone similar) in the next election and once again, you don't like the choices so you don't vote. Think about it what might happen if it worked this way;

1) We ALL turn out to vote

2) One person wins

3) If we like what this person does then we ALL turn out to vote for them again and keep them in office.

4) If we don't like what this person does we ALL turn out and vote them out after ONE term and put someone else in office.

5) Repeat process every year.

Eventually the message is sent that nonsense will not be tolerated if a person wants to hold office for longer than one term and the quality of the candidates improves. Now this is going to take some time since we have become so disengaged, but honestly and truly I swear to you that if we want to take back our government that is how it is done. In the 2004 Presidential election, about 60% of the population turned out to vote. In 2006 only 46% of the population turned out to vote in a major congressional election. Let me ask you something, who do you think comes up with most of the laws and decides how to spend most of our money? The Legislative branch my friends. The Prez can sign on the line or send stuff back. He can even introduce some legislative ideas of his own, but a big bulk of the work gets done by guys (and gals) who only 46% of turned out to vote for. Then we can't figure out why the government isn't doing what's in our best interest. Why would they when they know that half of the 46% of the population that bothers to vote will be made up of their corporate buddies? Ok maybe not half but you get the idea right?

So here's the bottom line in ten points:

1. You need to register to vote IMMEDIATELY if you have not done so already. Deadlines are nearing in a lot of states.

This site is non-partisan and will help you with that: http://www.justvote.org/

2. Call your friends up and peer pressure them into doing the same thing.

3.. Pick a Presidential Candidate. You may not think either of them are great, you may not agree entirely with either one (I certainly don't) but like it or not, one of them is going to be the man for the next 4 years so you may as well get it on it.

Read about them here: http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/

and here: http://www.johnmccain.com/Undecided/WhyMcCain.htm

Watch the debates and read the news. You can also try out one of the quizzes but I personally find them somewhat ineffective because they remove personality and general leadership approach from the equation: http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/


4. Call your friends up and peer pressure them into doing the same thing.

5. Read the ballot for your state and find out what other seats are up on the ballot so you can read up on who is running in your State/City/County.

Once again, this site will point you in the right direction: http://justvote.org/voterguides

6. Call your friends up and........You know what to do.

7. Take the friggin time to walk, run, drive, or drag your ass to wherever it is you gotta be to vote on election day OR request an absentee ballot and mail that bad boy in on time. Even better, offer to walk, run, drive, or drag your friends and neighbors to the polling place with you.

8. Go back to step two or three (accordingly) and repeat process every year until you are dead or have no mental capacity with which to make personal decisions. Verbally berate your friends who didn't vote. Well don't go that far. Let's just say "voice your concerns" to your friends about their inappropriate behavior :)

9. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ELECTIONS AND VOTING! (Please) It is not a coincidence that I was excited about watching the Republican National Convention in 6th grade and now I'm a concerned citizen as an adult. You don't have to turn your kid into a nerd but it is up to you to make sure that your children are civically minded.

10. No one will do this for us America. The right to representation was the reason the Revolutionary war was fought. People have given their lives so that we could go stick our piece of paper in a box once a year. Some people would give their lives to have that opportunity for their nation right now. If you don't give a shit about history or the rest of the universe then maybe your sagging bank account is motivation enough for you to realize it's time to get involved. Don't be scared. YOU CAN DO IT!