Who Deserves to Be Kicked Out of the Country First: Immigrants or the Non-Voting US Citizen?

"Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains." Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778

230 years after the birth of our nation, the original concept of Politics, a tapestry once held together by ontological and philosophical discussions, has become frayed to the point that many American citizens believe that "freedom" means having the right not to vote. This is an argument of fools riddled with ignorance.

Solely by happenstance, the great majority of us were fortunate enough to take our first breath on American soil; the rest of us immigrated purposely to this country for work, love, survival, and/or family. However we may have arrived here, we have at least one shared interest: the Social Contract.

Both Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and John Locke (1632-1704) believed in pre-political, "natural states" of human beings where they described imagined worlds of human interaction where no overarching authority existed. Though over-simplified, a major difference between the two theorists was that for Hobbes the world was a brutal place filled with selfish (but rational) individuals who would willingly constrain themselves within any type of government if it meant escape from the "State of Nature", whereas for Locke, humans were capable of living peaceably in small, familial groups, and would subscribe to a political authority when an agreement was made to live by the will of the majority.

The Social Contract is something that needs to be constantly redefined, dissolved, and as Locke believed, the political authority revolted against if need be. In the 21^st Century, our Revolution comes in the form of the choices we make in the voting booth, the changes we demand in election reform, and the people we chose to put forth to run for public office.

Where John Locke (who centered his argument on the idea of private property) left off, Jean-Jacque Rousseau picked up. Are we surprised to find out, as we lament that it is the feelings of disenfranchisement and the inability to compete with the acute socio-economic inequality bestowed upon us by today's society, that these are issues that Rousseau contemplated over 200 years ago? Our reasons for not going to the polls are stale and have been pondered by minds greater than ours; our inability to find innovative solutions and inspire reform in a country where the very tools to do so lie at our fingertips is no less than a disgrace when we paradoxically pride ourselves on being the leader amongst democracies.

By living and working in the United States, we have agreed to support and submit to a man-made, civil authority. How that civil authority is defined is up to us as citizens participating in a society where freedom means recognizing that a non-vote is not a protest - it is laziness.

To maintain this freedom granted to us means proactively instituting change and solving social problems such as assisting those who are kept from the polls due to economic or logistical reasons. As thinking beings, we are stripped of the luxury of assuming that others will address the issues that concern us while we continue to live in our self-centered bubbles and benefit from living in the very society in which we do not participate.

A democracy will continue to erode and finally crumble without citizen involvement. It lacks the ability for self preservation; it must be constantly and consciously maintained. Without involvement of the populace, a free society will quickly transform itself into an oligarchy followed by a dictatorship.

To prevent this devolution, we must make our voices heard by exercising our right to vote for (and recall) public officials. We need to become more involved in the world in which we live and demand that local, state, and federal government meet our needs and listen to our concerns.

Blaming the state of our nation on the current influx of immigrants; on whether or not "education" means preventing our children from learning about as many facets of the world as possible (including evolution); or on just how forcibly one is able to impose their moral doctrine upon another, are all but sideshows maintained only for distraction if the main power center is not functioning properly.

A word of insight, then, to all the ignorant followers who believe their choice not to vote is self-determined and not playing into the hands of the snake charmers: hypocrites who campaign that they want your vote can find their way to the soapbox blindfolded - it's everyone else who needs a little help, and you are the only person who can get them there.