VOTING IS NOT OPTIONAL
Why We Must Always Vote — Thought Flare #3
Not all American freedoms are worthwhile — specifically the freedom not to vote
The Founding Fathers designed the American republic to ensure a variety of freedoms — well, for men. However, it remains a mystery that among those freedoms they deemed essential was the freedom not to vote.
Unfortunately, there are too many Americans that lavishly indulge in that particular liberty.
“Freedom” has become the ultimate American holy word. It slips off the tongue as easily as “thoughts and prayers” in reaction to the latest mass shooting, which often is facilitated by our Second Amendment freedoms. However, this mantra is highly overrated.
And I have learned from personal experience that freedom should have its limits.
As the son of a single mother, I grew up with the freedom from a father’s love and guidance: He had the freedom to not be a father. As a high school teenager and college student, I had the freedom to fail any of my classes. In my college sophomore year, I nearly succeeded in exercising that liberty. Similarly, this government insists that we are entitled to all manner of freedoms of action and non-action, e.g., not to pray.
Thus, among the globe’s democratic nations, it has become a uniquely American fetish to revel in our fantasies of freedom.
We saw a mindless horde march to cries of freedom as they breached the Capitol’s doors on January 6th. We have also seen politicians sashay across the stage at political conferences — professing their catechism of unlimited freedom. One even felt it necessary to attempt a Mel Gibson imitation of that actor’s role in the epic film, Braveheart. The TV personality, Stephen Colbert, had a useful perspective below on that outburst.
Or during the pandemic, we saw MAGA acolytes willing to risk disease and death to protect their freedom to absorb a killer virus and then ensure that others die with them — in freedom.
Likewise, we Americans are notoriously committed to freedom from “cancel culture,” freedom to pollute the planet with the excrement of fossil fuels, and even freedom from something so basic as the truth. All of this is protected by the Constitution.
In short, we have the freedom to sabotage our future.
So when political actors heap their praises upon the Constitution, forgive me if I must raise my eyebrows to the apex of my skull. That document means little if we don’t vote.
Surprisingly, it was from my teenage affiliation with the Black Panther Party and Malcolm X’s speeches that I learned respect for the power of the ballot. Yet, that power does not exist in isolation; it is dependent upon other Americans valuing that franchise as much as me.
Thus, we are free to engage in all manner of non-action that sabotages our own lives, but that particular freedom should not extend to democracy. I am no fan of this freedom not to vote.
Accordingly, I wish to introduce another concept into the Constitution. It is good we have a Bill of Rights. But it’s time we had a “Bill of Duties.”
That list should be kept short — to protect our freedoms — but in it, I would inscribe the duty to always vote. I would also add the duty of three hours of civics training every other year, which is now arguably essential given the failure of the educational system to impart that knowledge in our schools.
And regarding civics education, the little that we baby boomers received had taught us that “taxation without representation” was a spark for American independence. Well, we are required to annually pay our taxes, yet how many of us annually fail to vote to determine how those taxes should be spent?
Hence, I have written previously about why we must always vote. Those flares would not be necessary if the franchise were not optional. So, let’s have less fulsome praise for those Founding Fathers since they left us with a major cleanup to address in the supermarket aisles of American democracy.
Those Founders clearly never imagined that the American public would dispense with behavior as basic as the adherence to civic duty.
Thanks for your attention. There are more meditations to come from this corner of the Enlightenment underground. You may follow me by clicking the button on this post. — Geronimo Redstone
