Viewpoint by Jonathan Mitchell
I was born on the Fourth of July.
I did not vote in the November midterm elections.
In fact, I have never voted.
Ever.
I am a 25 year old, unregistered voting virgin. If I haven’t had my chad popped by this point there must be something wrong with me right? Am I an outlier or are there others like me?
Unfortunately there are. A study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement showed that while “young people with college experience were almost twice as likely to vote as those without college experience…an estimated 24 percent of all eligible young people ages 18-29 voted in the 2010 midterms.”
The sad truth is that, in this post-responsibility age, apathy is hip.
It’s far easier to complain about decisions that are out of your control than to face the potential consequences of a decision you had a hand in deciding.
But, what does one vote matter?
No election has ever been decided by just one vote, right? Well…
Wrong.
Both Thomas Jefferson’s presidential victory over Aaron Burr in 1800 and the decision not to impeach Andrew Johnson in 1868 were decided by one vote.
In 1923, just one vote secured Adolf Hitler’s position as leader of the Nazi Party.
So, if every vote really does count, then why are so many of us still hesitant to RSVP to the political party?
Perhaps the strong two-party system at play in our political process is partially to blame.
What if you don’t care for either of the two candidates?
Do you simply pick the lesser of two perceived evils?
“To be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils is really to have no choice at all,” Comedian, writer and activist, Dick Gregory said.
“Under such circumstances the only real choice a person has is to exercise his right not to vote; to boycott the polls and refuse to participate in a process that mocks the concept of free elections.”
Gregory intended this, not as an excuse to shirk off political responsibility, but rather as a call for an increase in engaged citizenry.
George Washington cited this bipartisan tug of war in his 1796 farewell address: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism…sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”
He added that, “the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.”
Washington’s successor and fellow Founding Father, John Adams, echoed these sentiments:
“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other.
This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
This topic was even addressed in a season eight episode of “The Simpsons.”
The Treehouse of Horror segment, “Citizen Kang,” centers around the presidential race between incumbent Bill Clinton and challenger, Bob Dole.
When it is revealed at a political debate that Clinton and Dole are actually the aliens Kang and Kodos in disguise, Kang tells the crowd, “It’s true. We are aliens but what are you going to do about it? It’s a two-party system…you’ve gotta vote for one of us.”
As the crowd hems and haws in reluctant agreement, one man declares his intention to vote for a third party candidate.
“Go ahead, throw your vote away,” Kodos chuckles derisively.
Though there are plenty of problems and partisan restraints present in our political progress I no longer find these a valid reason not to vote.
I plan on registering as soon as possible and I hope that you do the same.
At least that way, when we’re forced into servitude by President Kang, you can declare with patriotic pride: “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.”
