Sunday, April 09, 2006

An Opinion Piece I Wrote For My News Paper

I was asked to write an article in support of voting. This is it, and I was pretty proud of it.

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As I’ve noted in my previous forays into partisan debate, the only way to change a government is to use the tools it allocates to its citizens. Any student of the United State’s 229-year-old administration cannot refute the molecular level of voting. It is the equivalent to a red blood cell in the American collective body.

In actively choosing not to vote, a person is forfeiting their role as a citizen. Realistically, non-voters are giving up a privilege that millions of humans could only dream of having. Claims that voting in elections is ineffective and trivial help perpetuate that mantra. By spreading this theory, the potential voting body becomes ineffective. Only by utilizing the opportunity presented by their governing body and motivating others in their constituency to do the same will they be able to put their beliefs into play.

Of course my opponent will claim that this is all common knowledge and that I’m ignoring enormous faults embedded deep within our electoral system. I will be the first to admit that our system of putting representatives in office can be severely crippled by the antiquated postulates installed by our nation’s founders. These errors are inherent in any government. No constitution can remain current and fair permanently and in order for it to remain in effect it must be fixed or “amended.”

In order for the system that apathetics so eagerly protest to be changed, they have to play by the rules that they are expected to abide by. In saying that voting will do nothing, they are deleting their opinion from the national consiousness. I will reiterate; there are problems with our voting system. I beg you to change them! Please! There are two paths to follow in changing the electoral process: voting, or actively reprising against the United States (which many times takes the form of violence). Apathy aids nothing but the conditions that a citizen claims so unfairly represses them.

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