Responsibility, participation, and the vote

During the Life Purpose Discovery process we examine the subject of responsibilities. It's one of the Foundation Lists that make up the core of this work.

One of the things I have noticed over the years is that, by and large, we as a society had become apathetic and complacent about voting and our personal stake in the democratic process.

When I started to do this work, I expected more people to mention their civic duties: voting, jury duty, that sort of thing. Very few mentioned these things without being prompted. They just didn't seem to care.

I was surprised. Now granted, I was raised in a multi-generational military family, so we took our civic duties very seriously. I still do. And, even though I have been a noted political and socail dissident in my family to some degree or another since my teens, I have always been a sentimental patriot at heart.

My Dad, the career Navy man, says, "If you don't vote, you can't bitch". He's of the opinion that by failing to vote you forfeit your right to have a voice in what happens in this country. He's got a point. Participation in the system makes a difference.

Whatever your ideology, your beliefs, your party affiliations or lack thereof, your participation is critical. We rob ourselves, our local communities and the nation when we fail to exercise our right to vote. Our responsible voice is lost, our wishes are not taken into account when we fail to speak.

When we do not vote, we abdicate our basic responsibility to our democracy: to make our voice heard. It is only by casting our votes and making our wishes known that we can begin to own our country once more, and go from beleaguered subjects to empowered citizens again.

The unprecedented numbers of early voting ballots and the extraordinary turnout in my local polling place gives me renewed hope for our nation. We are rejecting our previously endured disenfranchisement, and are galvanzed to action. We are voting in record numbers today.

Hooray for us. When we take responsibility for our own individual voices and participate in the election process, we send a powerful message of involvement and concern along with our opinions.

To live Purposefully means to act in accordance with your own best enlightened interests. It means being true, and being a player in the Big Games. Voting is a Big Game, with big stakes.

Please vote. Whatever your opinions, vote. Honor the covenant between ourselves and our government, and vote.

Because if you don't vote, you can't bitch.

Thanks, Dad.