I am the last person who should be writing about this.
I hate history
and politics
and government
and <bored!> I’m seriously already putting myself to sleep
because I probably wouldn’t have even clicked on this link to begin with.
But that irony is not lost on me. And neither is this one: When given the chance earlier this year, Britain voted to leave the EU. They didn’t have to go to war to do it, but it sounds a lot like 1776 to me.
America fought for, then voted and won their freedom from England’s rule, and now Britain wants to be independent as well. We may not have anticipated the results of that vote, but I’m not sure why we’re shocked at the concept.
Regardless of where you stand,
of your opinion
your view
your perspective,
think of how far we have come.
America had to go to war to gain independence.
Britain voted for their independence.
When America became a nation, women weren’t allowed to vote, and people of color weren’t even treated as an entire person. [Insert overflowing disgust/poop emoticon here.]
We still have a long way to go. But we are at least coming closer to accepting what our founding fathers said to begin with: that we are all created equal (even if they said “men” and blah, blah, blah, yeah, yeah, I know).
Wherever you stand on Britain or the increasingly divisive U.S., Brexit is a reminder that voting matters. It makes a difference.
You may not agree with anyone entirely.
You may not agree with your party’s choice
(if you even choose a party to begin with).
You may not want to choose
the lesser evil
or between any of the slimy
icky options.
And yes, your vote for one candidate or another may be silenced by the majority in your state. But the candidates themselves are only part of the whole. Judges that may eventually be appointed by those candidates are a really big deal. And those arbitrarily numbered propositions are important too (well, most of them, at least).
You may not vote on every single item on the ballot, but take a moment and do a little research. And listen to that Jiminy Cricket whispering to you that you may have been muting for a while.
Freedom isn’t free. We were rewarded freedom from people who gave their lives for us to experience it, and those people deserve our respect. Their lives mattered. Not voting only moves us backward. Use what they gave us to make your vote matter too.