The Presidential Campaign more than interesting this year. It seems 2008 marked the beginning of a new collection of voters choosing to use their voice for a change, or maybe just for a change. According to the State Legislatures report in March 2008 there were 12,752,417 registered voters in Texas and in November there were 13,575,062 registered to vote. That means that 822,645 voters felt the need to register for this election after the Republican and Democratic Candidates were decided.
What’s even more interesting is that of that 13 million plus, only 59% showed up to make their vote count. I wish there were numbers on those that registered from March to October to see how many voted compared to those who registered to belong to a movement. Considering to staggering population numbers of the State of Texas it is still surprising that only 8,053,036 voted. That is like saying only the residence of Houston voted.
So the question is, what stops people from voting, from using their rights and freedom as citizens of the United States of America to show up and make their voices heard? In light of this blog stage, I asked several random people I have run into this past week and here were some of their responses:
8 people said: “I knew Obama would win, so there was no need to vote.”
5 people said: “less than half the Nation makes the call for the rest of us, so who cares.”
6 people said: “I’m sure I’m not the only one who didn’t vote today.”
7 people said: “I’m not registered to vote because I don’t want to be called for Jury Duty.”
Have we become a Nation callus to our rights? Easily assuming that it’s all in someone else’s control and feeling as is all is well because you’re not the only one, in my mind, is not the best choice one can make. Not voting just because you don’t want to be called for Jury Duty is at best, a cop out. It is amazing the numbers of people from around the world who flock to our land of the free and want the opportunities and rights that we have available to us when many Americans fail to see the value in it.
I asked several of my friends who have became Naturalized citizens, and this year was their first year to vote for a President, if they voted and there was an overwhelming, “yes, it was an honor and I was proud to have a voice.” In my eyes, that’s a quality very much missing in this land of the ungrateful. Many Americans take their rights and privileges for granted. Many do not look past their own lives to learn anything about anyone else, to see the struggles going on worldwide, and to realize that they have life much better than 95% of the Earth’s inhabitants. God Bless America.
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1 comment:
Little to like about BIG Texas, I agree with you on the facts that you presented about people not voting but even though there were a lot of people in this country who did not go out and vote for one reason or another but in the end it is everyones right to also not vote as well. Just because you are an American does not mean that you have to go out and vote because its time to. The fact of being American is you have the choice for either or. All you can do is just stand up for what you believe in and if that means not going to vote so be it people are making too big of a deal about voting, change, and making your voice be heard. If people dont want to go vote then so be it.
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