Why Should I Vote on November 6, 2012?

Why Should I Vote on November 6, 2012?

"If we listen, and speak, and vote, we can choose the world we want, and choose leaders who will work with us to create it."

- Lily Ickow, Intern, Episcopal Public Policy Network

Many of our faith traditions and community organizations maintain that informed voting is not only a civic duty but also an ethical one. Politics is about shaping society so that all the people within it can flourish. If people want to have a part in that (and it is definitely in their interest), then voting is their moment to say ‘I do.’ President Eisenhower put it this way: “Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.” Voting seals your status as a citizen; it’s “what citizens do.”

Thomas Jefferson stated, “Should things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.”

On November 6, 2012, though you may have more immediate things to do, like buying milk or getting a haircut, use your vote – or maybe one day you won’t have it.

Democracy is a noble ideal toward which we are always in progress. As long as we can imagine how to confront the wrongs of our democratic tradition, we should vote.

Yet our country has a disturbingly low voter turnout. This means that only a relatively few citizens determine the results of an election. If you don’t vote, you will have to live with the decisions of those who do. Encourage others to register and vote too!