I have been looking forward to this election for some time. For sure I am a news junkie, and maybe just a bit of a political junkie as well. I always enjoy the news cycle when the election season hits. However I have to admit that from time to time, when the election results come in there is a definite down side–conditional on who wins. Which then becomes all the more reason to long for the next election. It presents an opportunity to be part of a change cycle. Yes; it’s the power of the vote. Enough votes for your party and the end of the election cycle can be relief or even cause for celebration. But what if you couldn’t vote?
Back in the 1700’s there was a phrase that became very popular in what was then the “Thirteen Colonies” of what would become the United States. The phrase was “no taxation without representation.” The development of this phrase came about because British Parliament was taxing goods being sent to America, but the people in America had no say in the matter. No taxation without representation became “taxation without representation is tyranny”. The result was that many people in these newly settled colonies revolted. It started with the famous ‘Boston Tea Party’ but developed into a full out revolution.
There are literally millions of people around the world today who are currently living under an oppressive dictatorship or some tyrannical monarchy. They are being taxed without representation. We don’t need to look too far back into history to know how some of those people feel about being excluded from the opportunity of helping to determine the future of their country. What is now known as the Arab Spring, was all about voicing opposition to these oppressive regimes.
If I go back further into Biblical history I wonder how many people then wished they could have voted to help change the government of their time? I am pretty sure that the people of Israel would have wanted to vote for change. Sure they loved King David and also King Solomon, but after that there was a pretty long history of failed kings. I wonder if Joseph and Mary would have wanted a better leader then Herod?
For me history in itself gives me great motivation to get out and vote. I don’t ever want to live under the same level of oppression that so many in history have faced. When I vote, I vote in the hopes of preserving freedom. I don’t vote for rights. I vote for freedom. I vote in hopes of seeing religious freedom preserved. I vote hoping for economic freedom.
However, voting to avoid living under tyranny is only one reason to vote. I would suggest that voting also is a way to promote moral issues in our society. Or put another way, voting is one way to combat evil in our society. When the culture pushes something that is morally wrong, and you have a vote that could spare society the pain…yet you choose not to vote, what does that mean? Does that make you complicit in the moral wrong? Being able to do something to stop a moral wrong and choosing not to seems to me to be at minimum irresponsible. So voting is a great opportunity to help our society.
Finally, I wonder–with all the benefits of living in a country like Canada, do we not have some kind of obligation to give back? Oh sure we pay our taxes, and my guess many will have things to complain about. But really, we have it pretty good. Just being allowed to vote is a blessing. We might even call it a gift. What does it say when someone gives you a gift and you choose not to use it or for that matter not even open it? I consider myself fortunate to have been born and raised right here in Canada. If casting a ballot is one way of giving back, then it is a small cost to bear.
But you know what, we do live in a free country. You don’t have to vote. You may choose not to vote and that is one of the freedoms we have. So I guess if you don’t agree with me, then hey; don’t vote. But then again, it seems to me that there are some pretty good reasons to cast a ballot. I hope you choose to vote.