To Vote or Not To Vote....Not Even a Question

Are you indifferent today?

Election day, what an evolution this idea has taken. From the first presidential election in 1789 when George Washington ran for the office basically unchallenged and our first Congress was comprised of the Senate and House of Representatives and the idiotic electoral college was introduced(might of made some sense back then, but certainly does not now), to the 19th Amendment giving Women the Right to Vote, to the Voting Rights act of 1965 which many black and white citizens suffered dearly to push through, up to the current moment, our torrid affair with democracy has left many of us indifferent.

We have however, no right to be indifferent or apathetic to the plight of the survivors of Katrina and indeed not to those lives who were lost. We have no right to be apathetic to the soldiers dying needlessly in Iraq to secure an elite group of mens outrageous fortune. I do not diminish the great humanitarian works our soldiers have done while there, or the individual and collective courage and valor to represent our country and fight even if they do not believe in the cause. Can anyone say Osama? It is this writers opinion that they never should have been sent there in the first place. A cousin of a serviceman who has survived at least two tours of duty, I pray for and hold in high esteem, each and every one of our service members. Indifferent, can't be.

Indifference is not acceptable for the thousands of Americans suffering from dibilitating diseases that want the right to hope for a future with cures for many of our most devestating maladies. I am not a proponent for stem cell research on fetuses, but I am also not a proponent for the hypocrisy of throwing tiny lives in to the garbage to say we are not tampering with unborn children and Gods will. Most of what we do in America today is tampering with fundamental beliefs and we have legislated to do so. Our relationship with the Divine Power, God, Jehova, Jesus, the Creator, is an individual right and responsibility and it is a delicate matter. The proposition of governing morals and upholding our country's religious freedom takes wisdom and compassion that the current administration does not illustrate. Indifferent. Can't be.

As a middle class income American, watching the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and the middle get screwed, I cannot be indifferent. As a person of color(my heritage is African, Native American, Irish and Dutch) I cannot afford to be indifferent. Too many people who came before me paid for my right to be different, loud, heard, seen and reckoned with. They paid for you too.

I mourned our last two presidential elections. I felt duped, bamboozled, cheated, raped. The last election took me some few weeks to recover. I stood in the lines. I listened to the voters. We chatted among each other and there was a consensus that change was needed. I lived in a primarily Republican district and yet still I heard echos of change. But when the vote was over, the same folks were in office.

There are things about George W. that I admire. He is bold and stubborn, and he loves his family. He is courageous, yes courageous because he goes against the masses even if it costs his popularity. He has used his opportunities to be the best he can be. Something every American aspires to do - use our opportunities(given any) and strive to be the best we personally can be. But do I want this guy for my president? No way. And I want all of his buddies in Congress to go too.

The introduction of the Diebold voting machine leaves many of us to ponder, Is voting trust worthy? Do our votes even matter? With voting machine sales showing only 6% of Diebolds company profits for 2005, you have to wonder why the safe and atm maker is in the business of voting. In the 2004 presidential election CEO Walden O'Dell openly raised money for George W. Bush. Should a financial supporter be able to provide the mechanism for counting the votes? I don't think so. Even though O'Dell is no longer the CEO for Diebold, numerous studies have shown that this electronic method of voting is suspect.

Just this past September, Princeton University provided a paper explaining how the machines could be used to steal vote data or change votes. Resources claim in the last several elections since 2004, that memory cards(computer chip that records the votes) were missing from many ballot boxes and were never accounted for.

Diebold isn't the only maker of electronic voting devices, and certainly there are security concerns with all of them. Poorly trained poll workers and computer technicians easy access to the machines also compromises the vote. A John Hopkins study was sent to the National Institute of Standards and Technology to question whether the current security standards for the voting machines are tough enough.

With all this hoopla surrounding the machines and 37 states utilizing them, should we be indifferent and retreat? Forget about voting because "they" are just going to steal the elections anyway? No!

We MUST exercise our right to vote. Only then can we investigate and fight for truth. Voting gives us a voice. The right to demand and stand up, and organize and revolt. Only when we know that we have done our part and that something truly is awry can we cry out and declare that the United States is not an empire run by a dictator! The next great evolution in our affair with democracy awaits us all.

Go. Do it. Vote!

That's melavision. What's yours?