Let's Get Political?

It seems like every where you look for the past, oh, you know, two years, the talk of the nation has been the upcoming presidential election. I understand that a lot of aspects of this election have been beaten to death by the media but I feel the need to clear the air, share my thoughts, and do that all American thing: state my opinions.

You see, I majored in Political Science which I know does not actually give me any more knowledge or wisdom on the subject of this election than anyone else. It just gives me a pretty piece of paper with my name on it. But in studying the Science of Politics we talked a lot about democracy and I feel like I need to clarify a few things.

The United States Federal Government is a democratic republic. This is a concept based on Greek and Roman republics that allow for representative bodies to make the big decisions. Take the Electoral College for instance - the original concept of our Electoral College was that the people of the states elected their city/town leadership, which then went on to elect state leadership (like state senators), who then typically picked the governor (though the practice and logistics of picking a governor varied from state to state), and it was then the governor who picked the members of that particular states electoral college. We were never supposed to pick our own President because the Federal Government was not designed as a democracy - it was designed as a republic.

But the American people became educated, we read Locke and Hobbes, we read the Federalist Papers, we even read Marx. We fought for emancipation, civil rights, women's suffrage, worker's rights and as a people we asked for more and more involvement in our own government.

We fought wars against ourselves with guns, with words, with hunger strikes, and the government had no choice but to give us more liberties. The creation of two hugely influential political parties transformed what the founders had envisioned into a whole new game, and the introduction of mass media and literacy transformed it all once again.

We were on our way, for quite some time, to transforming this democratic republic to a democracy in which we, as a people, elect our own president. We were slowly becoming the kind of democracy where every vote mattered but something happened.

When Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the presidency we let the republic remain by standing down and letting it happen. In a Latin American Democracy studies class I was in my professor turned to the class one day and said, "That should have been the turning point, that moment should have been the one where we came together as a nation and said 'it is time for true democracy in our federal government, it is time for us to be a nation.'" Instead we as a country accepted the founders original concept of these United States.

The founders believed in town hall democracy - that was why they created a series of states and not one giant nation. They did believe that in the town meeting men (and eventually women after a long hard battle that we too often forget) were to stand up and speak their minds (that's why freedom of speech and freedom of the press were so important). But instead, today, very few of us actually vote in our city, county, state, and even our federal elections. Democracy can only exist if we do our part.

This election is not just about Senator Obama and Senator McCain, it is not just about Republicans and Democrats. This election is about civil rights, women's rights, animal rights, economic rights, and the basic core of our democratic rights and liberties.

I don't know what is going to happen this election, I know what I want to happen but I look back to Al Gore and the electoral college, I look back to John Kerry and how little of the nation actually came out to vote, I look at my generation and see so much distrust in our government, and I begin to understand how easy apathy could be.

WE are our government. We the people of the United States of America have to vote if we ever want change. Maybe you're just as scared as I am that in the end the electoral college will determine a different president than the American people - but in all honesty that is a horrible excuse for not voting. Your votes do count, your participation does matter, because we will never be able to change the system if we don't prove first that we are willing to be a thriving, active democracy and not just a pacified republic.

I know, this is one of those soap box posts and I know that almost no one reads this blog but please, read your voters guides, research every side you can, and make an informed decision on every proposition, every candidate, and every issue.

This election matters. Ever election matters.
Go out now and make history, let's make this the largest voter turnout in American history - that's what a democracy is about.
The Snail