I’ve heard certain groups of people have decided they no longer want to vote. They think it’s a waste of time, their votes don’t count, nothing changes anyway, the elections are dishonest, or it’s all corrupted. What’s the point?
I’d like to offer a different perspective.
First, it’s true that elections are only as good as they are honest. Are people watching the votes come in to ensure ballots being properly counted?
In the 2020 presidential election, we all remember going to bed with President Trump winning, only to wake up to find out that the results had drastically changed overnight. This created a landslide of distrust in the process.
Not trusting the way votes are counted is a huge deterrent to encouraging voter turnout. The solution is to volunteer to work at the polls. Get involved and see for yourself. If there’s anything suspicious, please report it. Stepping up to personally witness the voting process creates trust within the community.
When people say their vote doesn’t count, well, that’s simply not true, especially in local and state elections. We have seen candidates elected with a one-vote advantage. A handful of votes sometimes determines who serves in local office, which in turn can impact which bills make it through various committees and what long-term decisions are made that impact our community for years.
Even on a national scale, those individual votes are impactful, especially when our country’s freedom is on the line. Of all the elections, this is by far the most important one of our lifetimes.
One presidential candidate has demonstrated over the last four years how she will run this nation – into the ground. The other candidate has shown that he can establish peace, rebuild our country and restore our freedoms. This is the worst possible time for Americans not to vote.
One more point near and dear to me is the sacrifices that have been made by our soldiers, doctors and nurses serving among military branches – sacrifices that have defended our opportunity to vote. As a great granddaughter of a soldier who was killed in the line of duty, when people say they don’t want to vote, it’s like a punch in the gut.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Keep in mind that while we are shopping for food, sitting before our wood stoves watching a favorite TV show, or even reading this article in English, it’s all because we live in a free country – thanks to God’s blessings and our brave military members who were hungry and scared and missing home and family as they fought for our freedom.
If Kamala Harris wins this election, will may well be drawn int a third world war, with a military draft to follow.
We mustn’t take our freedoms and prosperity for granted by failing to vote. This is like spitting in the face of our soldiers – both then and now.
In conclusion, if we value our choices, enjoy traveling, cherish our history and traditions, if we are grateful for medical freedoms and myriad other choices we make daily, please consider thanking the Good Lord, buying lunch for a veteran, and then casting a vote.
If not for our generation, then vote on behalf of the POW’s, MIA’s and all those who paid the ultimate price, so you even have this opportunity.
Thank you and God bless our state and nation.
TAKING ACTION
— Early voting begins across Alaska on Oct. 21. For comprehensive information on times and locations, click here.
The views expressed here are those of the author.
3 Comments
Voting is the least of your responsibilities, and most of you will never do more than the least of what is expected of you. Ill bred, ill read, well fed. Fat,dumb,angry and lazy. But don’t worry, Trump will save you. In your dreams.
It is a shock to me that Americans would surrender their liberty their duty and honor and not vote. I have lost too many brothers to understand this. Around the world people risk everything to vote. They go knowing it could get them killed. Yet Americans can not be bothered…
Many on here may remember a show that used to be on 660 AM on Saturday mornings. It was called “Patriot’s Lament”. It was a pretty good show, put on by two brothers from Fairbanks. They always advocated against voting, citing the reasons given here, and called themselves Anarcho-Capitalists. They claimed that if we all stopped voting, the system would just dry up and cease to exist, and those in power would become powerless. Attitudes like that go a long way toward explaining the pathetically low voter turnout in the FNSB. The thing is, we are all in the system, whether we like it or not. Those who crave control over others and support evil policies will always vote. We can let them take control, or we can do something to improve our lot in life. We should take note of the conservatives of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, more populous than the FNSB, who decided to get out, vote and be represented. The Mat-Su now leans very much red. There is no reason we can’t do that too.