Nov. 8 is election day. Will you be voting, or will you be one of those who will let someone else vote for you? Because, if you choose not to go to the polls on election day, then you are actually voting. You are voting to allow someone else, who does show up, to vote for you.
There are many reasons people give to justify their absence from the polls: “I don’t like either candidate”, “I don’t know the issues”, “I have to work”; and the list goes on. Excuses are easy to come by. Standing up and accepting responsibility for your future is much more difficult.
If you choose to make excuses instead of standing up and accepting your responsibility as an American citizen, then you are no better than those who failed to register to vote. And if you choose not to show up on election day then you might want to ask; who will be voting for you?
For those of us who have made the decision to vote, then the question becomes; “Who should we vote for?” If you have followed the election process, then you have been inundated with messages telling you who to vote for. The political parties are telling us who to vote for. The media is telling us who to vote for. Special interest groups are telling us who to vote for. The politicians are telling us who to vote for. So, who should we listen to?
Should we listen to the media to make our decision? Before you base your voting decision on information provided by the media, you might want to read “Tainted Truth” by Cynthia Crossen. Keep in mind that a few true journalists who have attempted to provide unbiased information about political candidates have been fired or censored for doing so.
Should we base our voting decision on information provided by special interest groups? The name itself should tell us no. Special interest groups have a special interest in who they want you to vote for.
Sadly, the two groups who could best provide us with good council are not allowed to do so by law. Those who know us best, those who we look to for guidance, have had their voices silenced by politicians and political parties. Those two groups are military leaders and leaders of tax-exempt organizations-which includes churches.
If you are religious, or belong to a tax-exempt organization then you should know about the “Johnson Amendment”. It is a tax law which prohibits organizational leaders and clergy from giving you guidance on who to vote for. Those people who are leaders in our community, who may offer last rites to a dying parishioner, cannot-without severe consequences- guide you in your voting decision.
What some do not know, or think about, is that the person elected as President will also be the Commander in Chief of our military. That person will be making life and death decisions for our loved ones. Yet the military leaders of our loved ones can’t guide them in who to vote for without the risk of reprimand or courts-martial.
Who then, should we listen to in our effort to make our voting decision? Perhaps the only one we should be listening to is ourselves. Maybe we only need to believe in ourselves and listen to our own conscience. Maybe we have been duped into believing that we can’t make this decision on our own. But, regardless of who we vote for, we need to vote. Then we will not have to ask the question, “who will be voting for you?”
