Vote: Your Voice Will Be Heard

We have spent the last 10 months bathed in the rhetoric of campaign promises, opponent bashing and endless advertising. In just a few short weeks, we will go to the polls and cast our vote for the candidate of our choice.

This election year we are at war with two countries. We are facing the biggest financial crisis that the world has seen since the Great Depression. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and their homes. So when we look for a new leader, we must look carefully. We must search beyond the political rhetoric and the spin each candidate has given to his view of the "truth." The decisions that are made at the poll, will determine the destiny of this nation.

Many have lost faith in the system. They argue that our vote doesn't count anyway; why should they bother. While it is true that the election of President is left in the hands of the Electoral College, it is rare that the voice of the people is not heard. There has been only 3 occasions in our history that this has not been the case and the last of these was in 1888.*

Another thing to think about when you go to the polls is that you go there for more than just to have your voice heard in regards to the election of your Presidential candidate. You go there to elect your Congressmen too. The President is just one cog in our democratic system. His powers are limited by the Constitution. So no matter what each candidate promises, he can only accomplish his goals with the help of Congress. Your vote still has an influence on this nation's destiny.

Our vote is our voice. It shouts out to the nation and to the world that in this country we have the freedom to change what has failed in the past and hold on to those things that have worked for us. By going to the polls, we exercise our right to be heard. Our vote gives us an equal say. If you are the President of the United States; the richest man in America, a CEO of a major company or the mail clerk in his office; whether you are an 18 year old who still depends on his/her parents for support or the senior citizen who tries to subsist on Social Security we all have just one vote and it is an important one.

I urge everyone to go to the polls. But do not go there and haphazardly cast your vote. Look beyond the rhetoric, the spin on the truth, the name calling, and the promises that may be broken. See what each candidate can truly offer and compare that with what you want for our nation tomorrow. Cast your vote wisely.