Being a citizen in this country is to have great political power—if you vote.
The founding fathers gave the vote to only white male landowners. So, in this great nation of ours (as in other places today) the people rose up in defiance. Many were injured and even killed in this struggle.
Now all men and women of any skin tone have an equal say in who are the leaders and decision makers. One person, one vote. A wealthy person has only one vote; super pacs and corporations have none.
The Supreme Court has said money is speech. This has credibility if our votes are affected by all the wasteful money spent on an election, but the power is in the way we vote.
I vote often and I like to win elections for my candidates and issues. Still, win or lose, my vote is counted and studied. I would prefer to lose to a large percentage of citizens, but recently it seems a vocal minority holds sway. Let us not wait for desperate or catastrophic times to strike before we are speaking in great numbers on Election Day. Registering to vote is free and easy.
Acquiring a driver’s license is a lot more difficult. So on the next Election Day, let’s flood the polling places—let’s get them swimming with active citizenship and cast our votes.
Tina Krauz
Grand Marais
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