Paralysis of the Vote

‘Chosen’ by the world lottery to be born into this nation whose pillars are life, liberty and happiness places a unique ‘call’ on its citizens to actively be involved in this democratic and free process of building our nation.

In these liberties we are entrusted freedom of speech, religion, press the rule of law as well as a citizen’s representative government.

Once every year, or two or four, we are called upon and advertised to nominate various leaders for this nation. Amidst all the grand-standing there is also a lot of sidelining. We the observers cheer, hoot and holler while our favorite contestant and mascot’s rating ebb and flow and the rumors and rumors of rumors constantly pop-up on our screens about the diaries of the candidates’ lives. Like reality T.V. we sit back/watch ……and eventually we, the audience- vote.

As an academic scholar once crafted (forgot the reference) that most of our political involvement is comprised of voting and voting is comparable to the act of flushing the toilet-Ya pull the lever and it’s done [paraphrased by me-not an academic scholar]. Well, when framed that way and if our political engagement and civic obligations are actually limited to just pulling the lever-that’s pretty crappy.

Is this the extent of our political engagement: merely sitting on the sidelines and cheering for the home- team, routinely coursing through the latest corporate sponsored breaking news line, and at the end of this exercise-flushing it with the pull of the lever? Does that sound to you like a nation of free citizens collectively building a better tomorrow today? Or has our responsibility been minimized/diluted/marked down enough that this is all that is expected from us-to simply sit back, channel surf through the latest epidemics of our towns-day in and day out and then during that season have corporate media tell us who we should vote off the island?

There is a disconnect here. As a nation of free citizens we are disconnected and disengaged as a whole. We have grown distant to the calls of civic and social responsibility and told simply to vote, to flush.

Speaking of disconnect-The first disconnect that we must make as a nation is the T.V. That’s right disconnect-TURN OFF THE TV!!

Within our God given freedoms we must relearn and become aware of how we vote everyday with our actions/words/decisions/receipts/lifestyle. As citizens we must connect with all that we do everyday. Our role shouldn’t be reduced to simply annually pulling a political lever for the latest political promise on the most up-to-date fade. We shouldn’t feel that we, the people, are the customers being escorted by the latest candidates’ filled promises of discounts, savings and bargains.

We need to connect our daily choices with our actions and remind ourselves that every action in life is a pull on the political lever. Voting for a specific candidate wouldn’t then be the entirety of our political involvement but just a piece, if we are able to see all of life as political engagement. Our daily lives need to consistently connect with our beliefs/our own platforms/and our own life’s campaign. And we can all be thankful that our life campaign doesn’t need corporate sponsorship.

With this right/privilege/opportunity that we have all been given, we need to be stewards and utilize this unique role as individuals and exercise these personal liberties in forming a better today. When we are able to live out our daily decisions as a way of daily voting, then these political seasons will become just that-a season.

When we begin voting everyday with our actions- then when that season comes- it is our message/priorities that need to heard, not their message that we need to be sold on. This action takes action. If you aren’t the political type-well…. we are all political through our actions-so we all need to become more aware of our actions/beliefs/values/direction and own up to our own daily platform called lifestyle.

May we all continue to become more aware of how we DO vote every minute of every day of our lives and that these actions would connect with our convictions/passions/zeal and be evident in our relationships, lifestyle, and purchases. We have been given this freedom and when greatly given-much is expected. Pulling the Big political lever once and thinking that that is all- is simply waste management, but becoming truly connected with action/thought and seeing all of life as voting is choosing well.