Voting 2008

We have all learned about political cartoons. Ironically these drawings which most often ridicule the government are taught to us by a like minded institution.

Anyway, the most significant political cartoon I can remember was so simple that you'd think it was capable of defeating its own purpose. No, this one was simple, but its message was compelling and analytically complex.

Imagine it now, as I saw it then. The cartoon was easily drawn in black and white. It was a split frame cartoon with one image on the left and one on the right. On the left was an illustrated man, heavy set, with a grin on his face. The man was wearing a "I Heart NY" shirt, he had on a head decoration which resembled the crown atop Lady Liberty's head, on his left hand was a foam hand cut-out with the index finger standing up (the kind you get at sports games) and it said "America is 1", in his other hand he carried a cocktail sized American flag. The image on the right was an illustration of a smaller and simpler gentleman, standing plainly. He had normal apparel on but was wearing a small button which read "I Voted"... Under the two drawings ran a subheading; "Patriotism".

It was so thought provoking. I loved it. It summarized much of the sentiments of the time. After 9/11 everyone bought flags and ran stickers about how "our colors don't run", everyone decided it was time for unity. Just like that, everyone identified an enemy and made America the new frontier to defend as a homeland. So many people wanting to prove their love for their country, but so few whom truly still believed in its functionality. The truth was that America became a great country in theory but a poor one in practice. So much so that an overwhelming number would die for its protection but only a few have lift a finger for its structural stability.

To me, the discreet cartoon summed this up perfectly. But now, it’s rather a depressing issue.

How sad is it that "the times have changed" can now apply to voting. Voting, you know that one thing that used to mean so much to so many.

Today, when those who are naive enough to still conform or those who are ignorant enough to still believe talk about voting, they play the same broken record. Words are used like "democracy, foundation, by the people, for the people, privilege, duty, etc." Someone please call these people's bluff.

You know what voting has become? Voting has managed to place itself as the biggest slap in the face this government has yet to deliver us.

Slaves have bared chains, broken their backs, and endured decades of oppression before being allowed to vote. As if thought they were below the concept. Women have been pushed around, demeaned, and made to endure inequality before having to fight for their vote. As if thought they didn't deserve the concept. In other countries civilians have to travel day on ends in crowded buses facing the threat of rebels in order to vote for their leaders. As if though the concept was too great to be left to them.

So much controversy has circled voting rights. It is the last bureaucratic line of defense between us and our government. It is our last non lethal weapon in the face of oppression.

Voting... An American tradition, an idea fought for nationally and died for globally. So what in the name of the free world was the 2000 election? I remember a big stinking' spit in the eye for anyone who had any hope left in the people's ability to voice our opinions to a government and not encounter a death ear. The sense of being let down was so thick, it was palpable.

Just like that, all we've worked for in this nation’s history was bought out. Years of planning, thousands of hours of secret meetings, countless worries, and indescribable amounts of blood, sweat, and tears. All that courage and effort it took to finally get the minorities in this country a vote. All of it, replaced by three "S"s combined with two parallel lines running vertically through each of them. ($$$)...Just like that, our choice was brushed under the carpet and the 2000 election was taken away from us.

Now, this is not an anti-Bush conversation. There are enough of those to gladly prove any of my points. This is an anti-voting one. Even if Bush had turned out to be the best thing to happen to this country, I'd still shout from the rooftops that he was brought to power by the worst.

I'd stand on principle that I, as well as the majority of the nation, was not heard. Even worse, we were silenced.

For once though, we made them feel what we constantly do. That gripping emotion, that overwhelming sensation and that realization that outside the comforts of our everyday lives, in distant corners we could never visit, was an entity more powerful than us. We made them feel that. We won...Even if it only lasted a weekend.

They took from us our voice. Every year since then, I have refused to give them the chance to do it again.

To vote is to put it into their hands. To give them the means by which to suppress us. They've done it twice (I’m not counting the thousand times before it) and we've lived under the circumstances of the outcome for the last eight years. Well, not again. I refuse to vote because I refuse to give them that power.

I continuously and patiently await the day they realize they need us. Not our votes but our dreams, our hopes, our visions. I will not vote for them, for anyone of them. Not until they stop betting against us, not until they respect us, and most definitely not until they realize their position only exists because we allow it to.

I should not have to remind you who drives this country forward...We do...and no one had to vote first in order for us to do so.