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The Biggest Mistake You Can Make on Tuesday |
| By:Linda Popky on Sun 02 Nov 2008 9:27 PM under General, Global Leadership, Politics |
Unless you’ve been hibernating or in a state of suspended animation for the last 18 months, you probably know that this Tuesday, November 4th, is Election Day.
Obama/Biden supporters will tell you their candidate is the best to lead the country out of its current crisis. McCain/Palen supporters will tell you that’s nonsense: their candidate is the best choice. Maybe you agree with one or the other, maybe you’re not sure. Maybe you disagree with both.
There’s only one terrible mistake you can make on Election Day: That’s to not exercise your right to vote.
If you are a US citizen over 18 years of age, you have both the ability and the right and the responsibility to participate in the political process and vote. There are very few countries in the world where all adults, regardless of gender, race, ethnic background, or political alliance have the right to participate freely in the process of electing our leaders.
For women, it’s only in the last 88 years that we’ve had the right to vote across all of the United States. Women of color have only had federal protection for the right to vote since the 1960′s. Many men and women fought long and hard for this and yet too often we take this right for granted.
This year we’ve got a high profile, history-making presidential race, which will result in either the election of the country’s first African-American president or the first female Vice President. But that’s not all that’s important. There are congressional races, state races, local races, and, in California, importantly, there are state propositions.
Not only do you have the right to cast your vote for elected officials, this year you have the opportunity to weigh in on a whole range of ballot initiatives ranging from prison reform to alternative energy, to preserving abortion rights, and maintaining the rights of all people to marry whom they choose.
It looks like some of these initiatives may be quite close. We won’t know the answer until all the votes are counted. Make sure that when the polls close, your vote is included.
