"Voting"

 Whether it was the participants, or whether it just being tired, I fell asleep Tuesday night just after the opening remarks from Harris and Trump, and then awoke in time for their closing statements; so I am in no position to offer a fair appraisal. But ignorance has never stopped me. Trump did not seem especially angry or defensive, as he sometimes is, but he rambled as usual and was as unpleasant as always. He is a bad lawyer for a good cause. Harris reminded me of an artificial unintelligent robot, programmed to spew a rehearsed message. While sounding like she was running against Joe Biden and the last three and a half years, she said that she would be President of “all the people,” as though that were a radical concept. And she added that as a prosecutor she never asked a defendant if he (or she) was a Republican or a Democrat. I had never realized such a question was common practice.

 

Mostly, my sense was (and is) one of sadness, that this great Republic has descended so low that these two represent the best we can do. God, help us, our children and grandchildren.

 

………………………………………………………………

 

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Voting”

September 12, 2024

 

“As I have done in every election since I started voting so many years

ago, I always like to take my time and examine the two candidates,

see not only the two candidates but the policies they will bring in,

the people they will bring in, who they might appoint to the Supreme

Court, and look at the whole range of issues before making a decision.”

                                                                                                       Attributed to Colin Powell (1937-2021)

 

In an era when convenience substitutes for deliberation, Colin Powell offers wise advice. One of the great privileges and responsibilities of a citizen in a democracy is the ability to help determine the course of government by their vote.

 

While there are almost eight weeks before election day, early voting in five states – Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia – will begin in just over a week. (Only three states – Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire – do not allow early voting, though all allow absentee voting.)

 

While early voting is a relatively recent phenomena, absentee voting has been around in some states (for instance Connecticut) since the Civil War. Advocates for early voting argue that it is easy to implement and increases turnout. Opponents suggest it leads to ill-informed decisions, prevents voters from changing their minds, creates logistical concerns, which increases the risk of fraud. While there is no question that for some people early voting simplifies their lives, the principal beneficiaries are politicians (and their surrogates) who hold rallies, pump up their followers, and send them off to vote on an emotional high. 

 

Nevertheless, voter turnout in 2020, at 66.6% of the voting eligible population (VEP), was the highest in recent years. The closest comparable number was 62.5% in 2008. However, other factors in 2020 may have been at work. New Hampshire, one of three states that does not allow early voting, had a VEP in 2020 of 73.96% while Pennsylvania, which allows 50 days of early voting, had a VEP of 69.93%. One wonders: With so much attention lavished on the election by the media, why is turnout not higher? 

 

As the reader might suspect I am not a fan of early voting, though I do believe in the necessity of absentee voting, (and I am a big fan of the study of civics in school). For years, while having my residence in Old Lyme, Connecticut, I would spend weekdays in New York. During those twenty-five years I always voted absentee – showing up at the town hall on Friday afternoon before election, casting my ballot, putting it in the proper envelope, and handing it to the registrar. I voted, knowing that if new information came out over the next two or three days I would be unable to change my vote. As well, I missed the comraderie of going to the polls, being a part of the community.

 

Polarization has made voters’ lives more difficult. With media bias common and with social media ubiquitous and biased, independent, free-thinking voters have a more difficult task than those of an earlier time. Facts and opinions are tossed together like a salad, which has given us disinformation masquerading as fact, relative truth professing to be objective, dishonesty hyped as sincerity. Opinion writers, such as me, are exactly that – putting opinions into words, trying to explain why we believe as we do. But when opinions slip into lead articles on the front page of The New York Times, The Washington Post, or the New York Post, media has abandoned its role as disinterested observer. The New York Times should amend its motto: “All the News WE See Fit to Print.” Fox News is the propaganda arm of the right, the same role played by CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and network TV on the left. The voter is treated, not as an individual interested in learning and capable of making up their own mind, but as a fan rooting for the home team. It is no wonder politicians love early voting: Speak at a rally, with an emphasis on emotion, not facts. Watch your supporters pump their fists; then send them out, like sheep, to the polls, while you move on to the next venue – wash, rinse, spin, and repeat.   

 

In this mad, mad world, we have lost sight of the fact that voting is both a privilege and a duty. It is a privilege because of the good fortune we have to live in this country. It is our duty, because it is incumbent on each of us to use our vote to help influence the direction of the country. And we seem to have forgotten that a core value in our system of self-governance is the right to cast a secret ballot, to protect our privacy and guard against coercion.

 

My advice: Take your time. Don’t hasten to the polls. Read as much as you can, including history for background, but also about the issues our country faces today. Keep things in perspective. Know the opinions of those you read and listen to. Journalists have assumed the properties of the propagandist. Remember, things are never as good as what one person says, nor as bad what another claims. Allow for nuances and never forget that the goal should be that our descendants enjoy the furtherance (and improvement on) of the life we have been privileged to live.

 

So vote, but do so thoughtfully and deliberately, and remember there is no reason why you should feel compelled to tell others what lever you pulled. Take General Powell’s advice: take your time, examine the candidates, understand their policies, and learn of the people with whom they plan to populate their administration.