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Why
Your Vote Counts
by
Jack Anderson
Should
you fail to vote, you will leave a void that ultimately could become
dangerous to the United States democracy.
National
columnist and Pulitzer Prize Winner, Jack Anderson has had 50 years
in Washington, probing behind the headlines and closed doors to
get the story. He is a senior editor of Meridian Magazine.
The upcoming
election in the United States is about something far more important
than a popularity poll. Your vote is a precious nugget of freedom
that belongs only to you. If you fail to utilize it, you will be
doing far more than cheating yourself. You will be undermining the
democratic system that gave you the vote.
That is not
an overly dramatic assertion.
Recently one
of the news channels interviewed a non-voter. He said he wouldn't
vote because no matter who won, it wouldn't affect his life. He
couldn't have been more off-base. To the degree that he prospers
and freely chooses his life, he is indebted to the idea of democracy.
Where the people
have a voice, a democratic government must respond. If they forfeit
that voice through apathy, "we the people" is replaced by something
else. The vacuum is filled.
The election
is not a mere vote count to determine who will represent us in government.
It will be the liahona to the politicians who run the country for
us. Here in Washington the successful politicians spend most of
their time with their ear to the ground to determine what you want
them to do. They take daily polls, then carry out your instructions
as nearly as they can interpret them. Should you fail to vote, you
will leave a void that ultimately could become dangerous to the
democracy. They will learn they must take their instructions from
other voices.
Candidates for
political office can't afford to court voters who stay home on election
day. So the candidates collude with the special pleaders who can
finance campaigns and generate votes. Those who elected by the special
interest thereafter can no longer support a issue just because it
is right. They must take pains not to offend their backers whose
power over them increases as citizens withdraw from the democratic
process. But, alas, government-by-special-interest only deepens
the public mistrust.
Voters who are
turned off unhappily don't turn out. This increases the alienation
between politicians and voters, causing an erosion in democracy.
The politicians
painstakingly study the election returns and use them as their guide
to policy making. That is why your uncast vote causes repercussions
throughout the democratic system.
Most voters
already feel powerless to stop official misconduct and mismanagement.
They become apathetic and succumb to the nothing-can-be-done-about-it-anyway
syndrome. More and more is left to the authorities, yet no one trusts
them to perform. This democratic erosion not only is causing more
citizens not to bother to vote; it is disillusioning them in the
democratic process itself. They lose interest in elections and stop
exercising their franchise altogether. This leaves a flawed system
that produces ugly results. Elections are left to the monied interests
who don't just contribute to campaigns; they invest in politicians.
There may be
no set price for an elected official's benevolence-no direct relation
between influence expended and cash extracted, but the pressure
groups, nevertheless, expect a return on their investment. The elected
officials who can no longer depend on the democratic majority to
support them now make deals with the greedy minorities.
Probably most
members of Congress already have close ties to the special interests.
Hearing their siren's song, they are already tempted to put special
interests ahead of the public interests.
The number one
problem is campaign finance. It all started innocently enough. Favors
have always been part of a politician's stock in trade. He is expected
to arrange government blessings for political contributors, within
the constraints of the law and ethics. Traffic moves both ways along
these arteries. The beneficiaires are supposed to be grateful and
show their appreciation. This sometimes takes the forms of campaign
contributions. It's a clumsy system that has been distorted by the
special interests.
Money can be
decisive in close elections. Vested interests are ready to funnel
lots of money to selected campaigns. When campaign financing is
offered by a pressure group, the politician must either sell out
on the dotted line or alienate this powerful bloc. Such corruption
is both routine and bi-partisan. More often than not, it produces
scandals which turn off more voters, and the corruptive circle keeps
widening.
It is still
true, incredibly, that our elected representatives want to do what's
right, and try to vote their consciences. All it would take to get
them to get an overwhelming majority to conduct the nation's legislation
the way our founding fathers intended would be a big turn out at
the polls.
So if you fail
to vote, you aren't merely suppressing a tiny voice too weak to
be heard; you will be contributing to the possible downfall of democracy
itself. Your vote still counts.
From 50 years
of watching Washington, I can assure you, the majority of the elected
officials would prefer to get their political instructions from
the people themselves rather than from special interests who huddle
with them behind closed doors.
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© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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