Boogie down to the ballot box
September 2002
by Mike Webb

Okay - 2 Walls Webzine has a "Politically Incoherent" section, and I feel obligated to contribute to it because I work in politics and have very strong opinions about it. However, I have no need to preach to people what I think their political beliefs should be. I pretty much get along with everyone - lefty progressives, conservative republicans, and even the politically agnostic. So I have no plans to tell you that you're a knucklehead for believing that George W. Bush has been a good president (although I could spend hours upon hours doing so).

Instead I want to say one thing. Vote. No matter where you're reading this from, you can probably register to vote online, or at least get the form online. But merely registering is not enough. You actually have to take a few minutes out of your daily lives and decide whom you're going to vote for (or against). I recommend getting your info off the internet because you can get it from a source you're comfortable with - be it Salon.com, the New York Times homepage, Votesmart.com, or Allencompassingassholes.gov. - go get some information, and make a decision.

Anybody who shed a tear on 9/11/01, should feel obligated to vote. We're apparently in some kind of war against terrorism, and men and women are being sent overseas to fight for us in the name of keeping our freedom. The most basic way to express that freedom is to go to your poll site, and pull the lever for some candidate who might've made a little sense to you. I realize that a lot of what these guys say gets glossed over, sounds like whining, or is plain confusing. But people really do have common sense, and all you have to do peer through all the B.S. and find someone with a common sensibility to yourself, and then punch the card for them.

Now I know you could argue that your vote doesn't matter because of the Electoral College or because one vote out of many doesn't really matter. But instead of going off on a tangent about how our forefathers set up our country so that educated, rich, white, landowners would basically be the only people who could vote, I'll come at you from a personal angle. As a black man, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't vote because of everything Martin Luther King, Jr. and the people of the civil rights movement did. If voting doesn't really matter, then MLK must've been a chump for enduring what he did so that he could hold our country to the first lines of the Declaration of Independence. Voting is a collective, societal act. It's bigger than one person. So it's not necessarily your vote, but the act of voting and participating that makes a democracy strong.

It really can make a HUGE difference in your life. It could mean lower taxes. It could mean more health care options. It could mean improvements in our education system. It could mean more frequent garbage pickup. And it could mean more money in the pocket of some corrupt politician. But nothing beats a try but a can't. So get up off your ass and take a few minutes to figure out who's worth voting for, and then go vote for them.

Democracy is like your body - it only stays fit if you exercise it.

(Mike Webb is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)