"It is your civic duty to vote" -- Pat Ward, Brookline Town Clerk

[gnomi]

This morning, I was talking to my mother and encouraging her to go out and vote in today's primary election. In the course of our conversation, I expressed my belief that it was vital for me -- as a Jewish woman -- to go out and vote, since I have rights that I try not to take for granted. And my mother asked me where I got my passion about the importance of voting. It's not that my parents are not voters, but I, she said, seemed to have a deeper passion about it.

I barely had to think a moment. I knew exactly where I got my passion for voting: Mrs. Kaufman, my civics/social studies/ancient history teacher in junior high school and high school. She always talked about the importance of voting, of exercising your franchise and communicating with your state and local government. She instilled in me the belief that voting is our way of telling our representatives what we think of how they're doing their jobs. She was a big fan of Barney Frank even back then (we're talking the mid-1980s), and she felt that it was the responsibility of every citizen to take an active role in their government.

With that in mind, I voted this morning, a little after 7:00 AM. Whether or not the candidates I voted for win their primaries, I know that I took part in an important aspect of my citizenship and let my voice be heard.

Comments

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

There's also a selfish reason to vote, in my opinion - the more "people like you" vote, the more seriously politicians will take the concerns of "people like you". This is especially true for geographic areas but is also true based on gender, age, etc.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about this, and three things come to mind.

First, we have a representative system. We elect people we hope will represent our interests. Their actual behavior does not require it, but their re-election might. If the voters are really unsatisfied, they may even hold a recall.

Second, your vote is theoretically anonymous. There aren't really any "people like you." Everybody is the same. Sure there are exit polls and opinion polls and focus groups and so on, to help shape what we want our legislators to do, but the only thing that matters is your vote on election day.

Conversely, the categories of "people like you" needs to be so broadly defined so that it's sometimes hard to get a clear picture of what people want. You and your neighbor may agree on 99 issues, but not on the 100th. Does this mean that you belong to the same category or not?

Last, some things do go to direct election, like referenda and propositions. These only exist on the local level, but we usually hope that our congressional representation pay attention to the results.

Of course, this is why Gallup and Zogby and the other poll taking organizations get paid so much for their products.

Yay!

[sharonaf.livejournal.com]

Mrs. Kaufman! Isn't she delightful?
I remember her and her political lectures fondly.
I wonder what she's up to these days.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Mrs. K. was cool... I wonder where she is these days.