To Vote or Not to Vote

Tuesday, March 2, 2004 was election day. Along with the many important issues and levies, registered Democrats were also asked to decide which candidate would win Ohio’s delegates the Democratic National Convention.
In spite of the importance of these decisions, one of the most important issues of all was really the right to vote itself. If the polls were correct, only a small fraction of eligible voters (Democrat and Republican) would bother to show up.
Maybe we forget, maybe we don’t take the time, or maybe we just don’t care to participate in these smaller elections. I even had to remind members of my own family to get out and vote.
Now that I think about it, maybe it is our history that we really don’t remember. Maybe we have simply forgotten about the many men and women who fought, sacrificed, and died so that we would even have election days to remember.
I know you’ve heard it before, but I’m telling you again, let us not take this privilege for granted. A privilege that even now our troops are helping to bestow upon people who have never known a free election.
Let us not forget that our voices can only be heard and our lives can only be made better if we exercise this freedom that we too often take for granted.