In a radio address from the White House on October 5, 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then President of the United States, said: “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”
It is difficult to fathom how there are still persons who consider “not voting” to be “a protest vote” without realising that by so doing they are actually facilitating, if not paving, the way for those who they claim to be protesting against. On the eve of an election, here is some food for thought.
Voting is a duty towards oneself, one’s nation and one’s children and not some right that can be discarded without any qualms. Others before us have fought and died to ensure that each and every citizen gets to enjoy this “right”. Not so long ago women as well as racial and religious minorities had no say in the political future of their nations.
This equates to being powerless in deciding what type of country you wish to live in and which values you would like to pass on to your children. How can you therefore take this right so for granted so as to discard it as though it is something worthless of consideration? Do we need to be denied of this right and suffer the consequences to appreciate its value?
Your vote shapes the future of your nation and the nation of the future generations. We all have a vision of the ideal country we want to live in and the one we want our children to grow and live in. These dreams are based on our principles and our values.
If you vote to uphold a principle, you will at least have the solace of knowing that you did all that was in your power to see a nation built on these principles.
You would have at least done the minimum of what was in your power to do to achieve your vision.
By not voting you let others decide for you. You are allowing others to decide on the type of nation you and your children will live in. You are consciously deciding to live in someone else’s vision rather than in your own. You are voluntarily excluding yourself from deciding about your own future and about that of those who depend on you.
If you don’t vote, you simply don’t count!