Personal Reflection/Motivation

October 28, 2008 by Dave.

As some of you may remember, a month after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I wrote an email to all of you, my friends, to talk about my feelings at the moment. It was angry, soon after the attacks and close before we attacked Afghanistan. I talked about the need to change US policies abroad and at home if we really want to win a “war” on terrorism, since the only way to fight terrorism is to end poverty and renew community. The following year, I basically sent a thank you note for all of you for staying in touch and remaining friends. The next year I wrote another angry one about the need to get out and vote. Seeing how this election is playing out, I figured I should renew that tradition about urging people to vote.

 

I’m still angry. I’ve been angry for a while now. I used to be angry about apathy in this nation. With what had been going on in this country ever since the towers fell, you think people would try to be more aware of what is going on. Instead, or maybe because of it, we disregarded what we saw and believed the lies spoken to us on a daily basis. Maybe we chose to believe them because knowing the truth would be too hard to believe. We were lied by this administration before they entered office. They lied about being compassionate conservatives, they lied about their environmental programs, they lied to us about their energy policy. Then September 11 happened. And the lies continued. They lied about the US’ own complicity in the past with the men who financed the attacks, they lied to us about wanting to build an international coalition, they lied us into a war, and they lied 4,000 soldiers into their graves.

 

It’s seven years later and I’m still angry. However now I’m angry at the viciousness and rancor that’s been spewed over the last couple of months. Since the end of August, we have spent day after day treading in bile that’s spilled over from an increasingly ugly campaign waged for the presidency. While both sides have dealt in half-truths and stretching for points, the Republicans have ran one of the most negative, sleaziest, vilest campaigns I’ve ever seen (granted I only remember presidential campaigns since 1984, but there are those who remember campaigns as far back as 1960 who say the same). While mudslinging is par for the course, I’ve never seen this level of it to where I’ve been scared for the physical well-being of a candidate if he is elected. We’ve had two people killed in a Unitarian Church in Knoxville, TN, this summer because of the shooter’s hatred of the “liberal agenda. We don’t need any more violence against people based on what they think. Add to all this, the continued rising unemployment, rising foreclosures—do I need to even mention the economic crisis these days? We all feel this tenseness in the pit of our stomachs as well as being front and center in our minds. It’s overwhelming and will drag the mightiest of us down.

 

However with all of this negativity, it is actually one of the more hopeful elections I’ve been seen. I know there are some people that don’t believe that their vote doesn’t matter. Since the year 2000 presidential theft and the 2004 Ohio problems, few citizens have faith in out election system. However this year, more people have registered to vote than ever before. New voters and young voters are signing up to make their voices heard. People who have foregone the process are rushing to get involved again. With so much at stake, people are rising to their civic duty to go and vote. The need to do our civic duty has never been greater. We’ve heard this all our lives, but to some it has never meant more than this year. Every election year over the last eight years we’ve heard that this election is the most crucial one we’ve seen in our lifetimes. However this year it actually feels like the most crucial election in our lifetimes. The need to go out and vote is essential. I have always believed in that system flaws and all. But I know that its flaws can only be further exploited if we as citizens stop believing in the system of elections. So I’m sending this around again as a tool to show how important it is to vote.

 

 

The first tool is a little political ice breaking game used in my days at college. It should really hit home about how far we’ve come in voting rights and how important the right to vote is. It works best in a group setting, so gather everyone in your area around you and ask them to stand up. Then read the following instructions aloud:

 

Ask: “Does anyone here own their own property? If not, sit down.” Until 1843, only people who were land owners could vote.

 

Ask: “Are you white? If not, sit down.” People of Color could not vote until the 15^th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1870.

 

Ask: “Are you male? If not, sit down.” Women were not allowed to vote until the 19^th Amendment was passed in 1920.

 

Ask: “Do you have $2 in your pockets right now? If not sit down.” States could charge a poll tax to voters until the 24^th Amendment was passed in 1964 (Southern states used the poll tax to deny the 15^th Amendment rights to People of Color).

 

Ask: “Are you over the age of 21? If not, sit down” The voting age was 21 years of age until the 26^th amendment lowered the age to 18.

 

Tell those seated to look around at those people standing (if there are any). Then ask everyone seated “Would you want those people standing to tell you how to run your life? That’s what you’re doing when you don’t vote.”

 

 

The second tool (which can also be read at the end of the exercise above) is listed below:

 

Historical Facts On The Power Of Just One Vote

1645—One vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.

 

1776—One vote gave America the English language instead of German.

 

1868—One vote saved President Andrew Jackson from impeachment.

 

1875—One vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.

 

1876—One vote gave Rutherford B. Hayes the Presidency of the United States of

America.

 

1923—One vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party.

 

1941—One vote saved the Selective Service - just weeks before Pearl Harbor was

attacked.

 

1990—One vote decided a state House race in Oakland County, Michigan.

 

(if combining with the first exercise) Ask those people standing if they voted in the last presidential election. Count up the number of people who voted. How many didn’t vote? How could that have tipped the balance?

 

Again ask only those people standing to repeat after you, then yell something out loud. Then have everyone seated to stand back up. Ask everyone to repeat after you, then yell something out loud. Point out how much louder it sounds with ALL voices heard.

 

If you think otherwise, history is proof of the lasting ramifications one deciding vote can have.

 

 

Over the last few years, we have only been given two choices: you’re either with us or against us. You either agree with our opinions or you’re a traitor or unpatriotic or un-American or wrong (choose your phrase). The divisions amongst us have risen to staggering new heights and continue to hold the windpipe of democracy and choking the very life out of our liberties, our luxuries and even our happiness. I have never believed that arrogance is the path of righteous and light, and I will continue to believe that whatever the results of this election. I also know that I have to stand up for my own beliefs because no one else will but me. However I know I’m not alone in this world and there are others that will stand with me. While that last sentence has often felt foreign at times, I stand at a time when I know that to be true.

 

Once again, as I did years ago when I first started sending these messages out, I say this as a passionate patriot. Not one that is draped in the flag and blindly follows our leaders, but as a patriot that believes firmly in the people of this country and the ideals which we hold in our heart but have yet to truly achieve. I firmly believe in the democratic principles by which we live, and I am not willing to see it subverted by those in power who keep repeating the mistakes of past actions that have caused the problems we are in. This election has galvanized us on either side of the philosophies and brought people together as Americans. But it only works if you, in fact, go out and do your civic responsibility. This election is not over yet—as tired as we are of this endless campaign and as much as we may want it to be over. There is still one week left for you to get your ballots out and counted. If you hate the direction this country has taken, if you want to ensure a better future for you and your families, if you want to ensure your vote count, you MUST make yourself heard on November 4. I’ll be joining my voice along with yours as well.

 

NOW GET OUT AND VOTE!

 

With love and faith,

 

 

David “Hussein” Concepcion

 

 

 

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