    Too many Americans pass every day believing that they have no influence on the events that swirl around them locally, nationally, and internationally. These Americans often talk in terms of ‘The Government’ as if this government was some sort of colossal monolith that cannot be influenced or stopped. They often talk of what they want to be different about their cities, their nation, and the world, but they seem to have no sense of what can be done to make those changes
    This weblog talks often about doing something, though that something is sometimes clouded in the language of ideas, so when an opportunity for Americans to do something specific and meaningful comes along, such an opportunity must be taken. This opportunity for Americans to do something comes on the first Tuesday of this November in the form of the midterm Congressional elections. These elections represent the opportunity for Americans to shape the direction of the nation for at least the next two years if not for decades to come.
    While the slate of candidates is already mostly set in most places, every American still has an opportunity to send a message to Congress, to the President, and really to the world about what they think should be done about the pressing issues of this modern era. By voting their conscience, Americans can decide issues as widely varied as Medicare and the War in Iraq. Americans can set the tone for domestic and foreign policy. They can do so because it is the American citizen who selects the government and who directs the nation by whom the choose to elect.
    The particular persuasion of this weblog is well known to anyone who reads it frequently, so this post is not to be taken as an attempt to influence a particular view. Instead, this post is intended to reach out to every American and point out that they are, in the end, the very ‘Government’ they believe is so monolithic and unstoppable. Whether Americans choose to participate in the political process or not, they are still making a choice, and that is a choice that they will have to live with for at least two years.
    Therefore, if Americans want to see the course of their nation change or remain the same, the solution is for all eligible Americans to vote in this election. Granted, voting can be inconvenient. Granted, voting takes time. Granted, knowing who to vote for means preparing ahead of time. Yet, the payoff for voting is being able to determine how much taxes are paid, what government services are available, and how America’s interests around the world are handled by voting for those candidates that most closely reflect the voter’s views.
    Voting is the ultimate power of the republican democracy; the nonviolent way that the Founding Fathers sought to keep the power in the hands of the people without the need for revolution to correct government excess. Well exercised, the right to vote guarantees the liberties of the American form of government to the citizen. When that right is unexercised, it cedes those liberties to the oligarchical dictatorship of the powerful that will inevitably fill such a vacuum.
    The moral, then, is to vote. Vote for the future and vote for liberty.
DLH
“good post”