from Jake - why we should vote
This is from Jake. It helped me think about why I should vote, even though the candidates are both poor choices:
Why should you vote if both candidates are distasteful?
1. A Republican vote counts for things other than simply a vote for a candidate: It supports the national party; which is pro-life, even if the candidate is not. The same is true for issues such as the war, taxes, marriage protection etc. The rest of the nation will look at Republican votes in Illinois as Republican votes. They will be counted as such and measured and wheighed and considered and written about. It is doubtful that conservatives will be seen as no longer conservative simply for voting for someone who is not their ideal candidate when they had no other choice!
2. To vote is to support the process. The democratic process more often than not causes the voter to choose between the lesser of two evils (as the voter sees it). The process of this American democratic republic has generally been messy in its history; corruption, moral emptiness, even violence - are not new. That is not a reason to abandon it. As Winston Churchill said : "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." To vote is at least a vote for the process.
3. There is safety in a large voting public: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." But if only some of the people vote, you only have to fool some of the people all of the time.
4. If you vote, the politicians will respect your voice. If all Christians always voted, on general principles of support for the democratic process, would they be less or more of a force in politics? You CAN keep your principles and still vote for someone who doesn't share all of them. The politicians respect the voting public, not those who sit out. The are interested in the faithful voter, to find out that voter's issues and principles. It is the faithful voter who is the true force in politics.
Jake Muzzy
Why should you vote if both candidates are distasteful?
1. A Republican vote counts for things other than simply a vote for a candidate: It supports the national party; which is pro-life, even if the candidate is not. The same is true for issues such as the war, taxes, marriage protection etc. The rest of the nation will look at Republican votes in Illinois as Republican votes. They will be counted as such and measured and wheighed and considered and written about. It is doubtful that conservatives will be seen as no longer conservative simply for voting for someone who is not their ideal candidate when they had no other choice!
2. To vote is to support the process. The democratic process more often than not causes the voter to choose between the lesser of two evils (as the voter sees it). The process of this American democratic republic has generally been messy in its history; corruption, moral emptiness, even violence - are not new. That is not a reason to abandon it. As Winston Churchill said : "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." To vote is at least a vote for the process.
3. There is safety in a large voting public: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." But if only some of the people vote, you only have to fool some of the people all of the time.
4. If you vote, the politicians will respect your voice. If all Christians always voted, on general principles of support for the democratic process, would they be less or more of a force in politics? You CAN keep your principles and still vote for someone who doesn't share all of them. The politicians respect the voting public, not those who sit out. The are interested in the faithful voter, to find out that voter's issues and principles. It is the faithful voter who is the true force in politics.
Jake Muzzy
posted by Carol at 7:52 AM
0 comments
