Voting in political elections is a very important responsibility. Everyone gets wound up about the Presidential elections, but in reality your vote for local offices such as School Board, City Council, and Mayor are much more impactful statistically. Not to say that I do not get into the presidential elections, but as a U.S. Government and Civics teacher, my job is to get young people involved in politics and sadly, it is hard to get them to understand this truth.
History of Politics
So often in history the will of the common person has been discarded hastily by those with power. Think of all the emperors, dictators, queens, and kings who never really had to concern themselves with the will of the people. They were just pawns on a chessboard to be used as they saw fit. Usually these systems were supported with a clergy of some sort justifying the right of the authoritarian leader to do as they wished.
It is much more the trend in history to have more oppressive systems and indeed it seems we are heading back that way. The Romans, The Greeks, The Kingdoms of Africa, Asia, Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, each had a slave class. Many had 50%+ of the population in some sort of slave class Some had democratic structures, but these were still typically in the hand of the elites for all intents and purposes.
We Are Fortunate to Have a Vote
As an average person who has worked very hard in the lowliest of customer service jobs, I can appreciate that it was difficult to get the right to vote at all and that we are lucky to have it. Every job I have every had, the boss is always complaining about having to pay the employees so much, be it minimum wage, or a salary.
The only reason the working class has any power at all is because of a fear of rebellion or socialism that may take money away from the wealthy. These rights were never earned lightly or easily. No king or queen just decided one day their subjects ought to have the right to vote. They kept common people ignorant and illiterate because it made them easier to control.
The Black Death, Protestant Reformation, and invention of the printing press changed that. Without that confluence of events, most of us would still be plowing some noble lords fields, hoping they didn’t decide to starve us.
So the short version, yes, I do vote in political elections, however, farcical and nonsensical they may be. Our vote, our unity is the only thing that stands between being crushed by the machine and I for one value it immensely. It is historically speaking a rare thing to be able to vote, a right I will not be taking for granted anytime soon.
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What are your thoughts on this?