I Vote Because... by Bennet G. Kelley

[EarlG]

I VOTE BECAUSE

By Bennet G. Kelley

I vote because it is our duty as heirs to the covenant of liberty passed on by our founders. A covenant for which generations of mine and countless other families have given every measure of their strength and spirit and even their lives to defend. From the hills of Concord to the shores of Normandy to the streets of Selma they have heeded the call to "let freedom ring." Now it is our turn.

I vote because, growing up in a poor neighborhood, I have seen how government can help a community cross the bridge between hope and despair. In 1980, public-private partnerships enabled my community to begin clearing the weeds of decay from years of white flight and to sow seeds of hope. A year later with a new President in office, funding was eliminated and my community was tossed into a decade of decline and neglect. A decade that began with renovation and hope, ended with blocks of abandoned buildings and a prostitute walking the streets outside our home on Christmas night.

I vote because the 2000 election and the last four years have taught us that every vote matters in every sense of the term. Not only does a vote matter because it can decide the outcome of an election, but today each potential outcome represents sharply diverging paths. Consider the possibility that if Al Gore were President today we may not be at war with Iraq or have record deficits. The difference between this path and our current situation was a mere 537 votes.

I vote because while living in Washington for thirteen years I saw that many government decisions that impact our lives are not widely reported. This election is about more than just a few "wedge issues"; since the winner will set the agenda for the national debate and impact our lives by the way he interprets and chooses to enforce the law. For example, under President Bush civil citations to polluters dropped nearly sixty percent which may contribute to an increase in the estimated 700,000 hospital admissions and 100,000 premature deaths caused by air pollution each year.

I vote because, in the words of President Kennedy, all of us are officeholders. "All of us make an important decision as to what this country must be. . . and whether it shall stand still . . . or move forward." The outcome of this election will impact every state and every generation in this country, not to mention billions of people throughout the world. I vote because I want to have a say in this important decision.

I vote because of people like Nelson Mandela, the courageous student who defied the tanks in Tiananmen Square and others throughout the world who risked their lives for the simple right to vote. We stand with these heroic souls when we exercise the right they are so wrongly denied.

I vote because Hitler and Mussolini were democratically elected. The more voter turnout continues to decline, the greater the risk that a fringe candidate could emerge. To put this in context, more votes were cast in the 2002 American Idol contest than in the mid-term elections that year. I believe that it is more important to affirm Lincoln's promise that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," than to pick the next pop star.

I vote because it is the best way I have to say that I love my country. For all those with American flag or "Support our Troops (or President)" bumper stickers, these sentiments are meaningless if you don't vote. As Teddy Roosevelt stated, if freedom and self-government are "a valuable right, then must be retained exactly as our forefathers acquired them, by labor." We are not being asked to cross an icy Delaware or stop a charge at Gettysburg, but merely to stand as a nation to affirm our belief in freedom and self-government.

On November 2nd, let freedom ring loud and clear.

Bennet Kelley is the former National Co-Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Saxophone Club and author of "President Bush: The False Prophet of the Christian Right" which appears in Big Bush Lies (RiverWood Books 2004).