In the past, I have written columns dealing with societal issues such as religious tolerance (one of my personal favorite topics), the failure of our Electoral College system and the general downfall of the human race. This column will be a bit different, however.
It will still deal with societal issues, but this column will offer hope, as it will explain the easiest way that we can begin to fix these problems.
The beginning of the solution is simple, my friends. It consists of only one word – VOTE!
Voting is one of the strangest liberties granted to us in the land of the free. Most citizens of this country get up in arms whenever there is the slightest chance of an infraction of personal rights. However, many of these same people don’t even bother to get up off the couch on election day to make sure that leaders are put in office who will protect those rights.
Without protection by the government, those rights so sacredly regarded would cease to exist.
I say the right to vote is the supreme right enjoyed by people in this nation, and yet they take it for granted. Study the voter turnout numbers of any election in the last quarter century and they will prove me right.
One of the most frequently given reasons for not voting is “I am only one person and one vote won’t make a difference.” I feel that our last presidential election shot that theory out of the water. Never mind the fact that the man sitting in the White House lost the popular election. That outcome may have been different if all the people who said “one vote won’t make a difference” had decided to not let apathy rule their life for just one moment and took a stand for voting.
We don’t even have to go as far as the federal government level to see how important voting is. Look at the local elections for city and county offices.
Do you want the local sales tax to go down, or perhaps the nasty pot holes in your street fixed? To get what you want, you have to be willing to be speak up and have your voice heard.
Even if you are too timid to get up and speak out at Johnson City City Commission meetings or public forums, you can make your voice heard by making your way from your homes on Election Day and choosing who runs your government.
Decisions on the local level of government have perhaps a greater effect on people than do decisions at other levels.
That is one reason it is important to get involved at the local level, because you want people you can trust in office to do the right thing.
Since many of the local officials live in or near the communities with which they deal, they have a specialized knowledge of the problems going on there and often have those same concerns themselves.
I have shown you a way to get involved and help make this place the better world that is often talked about.
For that reason, I would like to personally invite each and every one of you to go out and exercise your most sacred right, the right to vote.
The Johnson City elections are coming up in two weeks on April 24.

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