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I'm not telling you to vote

Date: 2014-Nov-04           Author: Barry Shatzman

Election day is winding down, meaning so are the lectures from your friends and celebrities telling you to vote. It's all pretty much the same, right? If you don't vote, you have no right to complain.

I couldn't disagree more.

For one thing, you may feel you don't know enough about the candidates for a particular office or a particular issue to make your vote an intelligent one. I'm just not sure how an uninformed vote helps keep our democracy functional.

But here's the real thing... there's a difference between an election and what the winner does once in office. In other words - how well they represent your best interests.

We often forget that. Don't believe me? When's the last time you lectured your friends about calling or writing to their representatives about how some policy might affect them? For that matter, when's the last time you called or wrote?

Riddle me this Batman... how is the person representing your interests supposed to know you're paying attention to an issue unless you tell them, and enough others tell them the same thing? So whether someone voted or not, wouldn't it be in everyone's best interest - including yours - for them to write too?

"That can't do any good," i hear you say. "I'm just one voice out of so many people."

Oh yeah? So why do you bother to vote?

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