By Lyndsay Wright
In America, we not only have a right to vote, but we have a responsibility to vote. Very few nations in the history of the world have allowed their people to select their leaders. Our founding fathers created a framework that guarantees us a freedom of choice. This framework assured future generations life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We, as the future generation, must uphold this responsibility and exercise our right to vote.
This generation has unprecedented information available at our fingertips. Because of the fact that modern technology has provided anything, anytime, and anywhere, our generation has become a now generation. We want things now, as quickly as possible; the latest and greatest, and what everyone else has.
We can choose to use this technology for so much more that gossip, movies, or music. We can choose to affect the destiny of our nation. Informed decisions can allow us to make the right choices regarding our leaders and ballot initiatives. Understanding the impact of the choices we make in the now will affect our lives and others for years to come. For example, leaders we elect today will appoint and confirm judges that will interpret our laws based on their experiences and beliefs.
Barely half of the young people voted in this last election, and that was the second greatest turnout in history. That means that a minority is making the decision for the majority. Everyone has a right to be heard.
Your vote does count.
Your voice can be heard.
What will you choose to do with that power?
Why Vote?
TOP TEN REASONS TO VOTE
• In honor of those in our military who courageously fight wars and our law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency workers who respond to our needs and defend the peace at home. Those who sacrifice their personal well-being in the name of our safety and security deserve our respect. Voting is a way of giving them and their families our vote of confidence in their heroism.
• In honor of those who struggled for civil rights, women's suffrage, immigrant rights and the ideals of justice for all whose diverse voices are essential for our nation's moral health and community vitality. Freedom needs affirmation. Voting is a way to assure that our rights are protected by strengthening the voices of those for whom rights are sacred and need to be defended.
• To be a good example to our children and grandchildren by exercising the right to vote as a symbol of our faith in democracy. By voting we send a signal of the importance of the choices we as adults make to secure a better future for ourselves, for our children, and generations who will follow.
• Voting is our society's great equalizer. No matter our station in life, income, or social status, every citizen over age 18 has the same power of one vote. Pollsters do not determine who wins elections; voters do. Predicting the outcome of elections, especially close ones, is at best an inexact science. Pollsters and political pundits have their roles, but like each of us, they only have one vote.
• Elections should not be about negative ads, it should be about the options we all have to promote positive policy actions. Voting for candidates in whom we believe, and for or against ballot initiatives we know will affect our future, is a perfect counterbalance to the flood of negativity polluting the airwaves and mailboxes.
• Voting is now more convenient than ever. Early voting and mail-in balloting are options which can avoid the frustration of lines on November 7th. Voters have access to election information to facilitate efficient and effective voting practices.
• It's important to be an informed voter. Pay attention to news reports and editorials about the campaigns. Voting gives all us the chance to make our opinions known in the public policy arena. While how we vote is confidential, the fact that we have voted, or failed to vote, is public record. Elected officials know which individuals and demographic groups are voting, and we who vote are therefore more likely to be influential in policy debates. Non-voters are voiceless and by not participating can become victims of their neglect.
• Regret is preventable. November 8th is one day too late, and "could have, should have" are sorry alternatives to acting. Have a "no excuses" attitude by committing to vote, ask others to join us in voting, and promote a positive approach to making a difference among family, friends and colleagues.
• Be part of making history. Because every indicator points to the prospect that the 2006 election will suffer from an extremely low turnout, every vote is even more important. As a Floridian, I know how close elections can be. Being a participant in affecting history gives each of us a sense of pride in democracy and the power to touch the future.
• Democracy is a team sport….and spectators don't count.
• In honor of those in our military who courageously fight wars and our law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency workers who respond to our needs and defend the peace at home. Those who sacrifice their personal well-being in the name of our safety and security deserve our respect. Voting is a way of giving them and their families our vote of confidence in their heroism.
• In honor of those who struggled for civil rights, women's suffrage, immigrant rights and the ideals of justice for all whose diverse voices are essential for our nation's moral health and community vitality. Freedom needs affirmation. Voting is a way to assure that our rights are protected by strengthening the voices of those for whom rights are sacred and need to be defended.
• To be a good example to our children and grandchildren by exercising the right to vote as a symbol of our faith in democracy. By voting we send a signal of the importance of the choices we as adults make to secure a better future for ourselves, for our children, and generations who will follow.
• Voting is our society's great equalizer. No matter our station in life, income, or social status, every citizen over age 18 has the same power of one vote. Pollsters do not determine who wins elections; voters do. Predicting the outcome of elections, especially close ones, is at best an inexact science. Pollsters and political pundits have their roles, but like each of us, they only have one vote.
• Elections should not be about negative ads, it should be about the options we all have to promote positive policy actions. Voting for candidates in whom we believe, and for or against ballot initiatives we know will affect our future, is a perfect counterbalance to the flood of negativity polluting the airwaves and mailboxes.
• Voting is now more convenient than ever. Early voting and mail-in balloting are options which can avoid the frustration of lines on November 7th. Voters have access to election information to facilitate efficient and effective voting practices.
• It's important to be an informed voter. Pay attention to news reports and editorials about the campaigns. Voting gives all us the chance to make our opinions known in the public policy arena. While how we vote is confidential, the fact that we have voted, or failed to vote, is public record. Elected officials know which individuals and demographic groups are voting, and we who vote are therefore more likely to be influential in policy debates. Non-voters are voiceless and by not participating can become victims of their neglect.
• Regret is preventable. November 8th is one day too late, and "could have, should have" are sorry alternatives to acting. Have a "no excuses" attitude by committing to vote, ask others to join us in voting, and promote a positive approach to making a difference among family, friends and colleagues.
• Be part of making history. Because every indicator points to the prospect that the 2006 election will suffer from an extremely low turnout, every vote is even more important. As a Floridian, I know how close elections can be. Being a participant in affecting history gives each of us a sense of pride in democracy and the power to touch the future.
• Democracy is a team sport….and spectators don't count.
Political Perspective
::::A few great men on voting
Samuel Adams
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
James Garfield
Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.
Alexander Hamilton
A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law.
John Jay
The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of government under which they should live.
Daniel Webster
Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee as well for others as himself and that every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his own.
Samuel Adams
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
[Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907), Vol. IV, p. 256, in the Boston Gazette on April 16, 1781.]
Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be men of unexceptionable characters. The public cannot be too curious concerning the character of public men.
[Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907), Vol. III, p. 236-237, to James Warren on November 4, 1775.]
James Garfield
Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.
[James A. Garfield, The Works of James Abram Garfield, Burke Hinsdale, editor (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883), Vol. II, pp. 486, 489, "A Century of Congress,"� July, 1877.]
Alexander Hamilton
A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law.
[Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Harold C. Syrett, ed. (New York, Columbia University Press, 1962), Vol III, pp. 544-545.]
John Jay
The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of government under which they should live.
[John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. I, p. 161.]
Daniel Webster
Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee as well for others as himself and that every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his own.
[Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1853), Vol. II, p. 108, from remarks made at a public reception by the ladies of Richmond, Virginia, on October 5, 1840.]
Whatever you do, DON'T vote.
A public service announcement to encourage American youth to register to vote.
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