Why don’t you?

Posted on October 21, 2009

Vote. Why don’t you? Never in the history of our Republic has voting been easier or more accessible. Recently I spent some time thinking about this topic. Every day I work to find ways to engage and educate youth to encourage them to vote. So, voting, this time of the year, is on my mind.

Last year in November 131 Million Americans voted. The highest turnout ever. However, that was a paltry 63% of the estimated 209 million voting age eligible adults. This year, when we elect our Mayors, School Board members, council members and trustees, less than one out of three eligible voters will cast a ballot.

Why? After 200 years of work do only one in three vote on election day? In the first Presidential election, only six per cent of Americans were eligible to vote. And these men didn’t elect George Washington; they voted only for delegates to the Electoral College, an institution established to further restrain the popular will.

Restrain the popular will? What? True, our founding fathers never expected or dare I say, desired, the populace to vote. That is why hundreds of thousands of died and fought to secure the right to vote, moving us from a Republic to a Democracy over the last 200 years.

White male land owners were the first voters. Most elections they voted by voice at townhall meetings. Larger elections like that for Washington was done with Ballots printed in the newspaper or distributed by politicos. Ballots then were brought to a central location, often surrounded by more politicos and the ballot openly passed to the election judge. Safe, secure, secret, not really, yet they voted. Today your ballot can be mailed to your house and submitted via the mail, safe, secure and secret. Without effort.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed following the Civil War, in the latter 1860s. They outlawed slavery and extended civil rights and suffrage (voting rights) to former slaves. These Amendments begin to move us closer to the Democracy we enjoy today. However, many obstacles still remained for those wishing to vote following the Civil War.

Women, women, who outvoted men in 2008, 70 million to 60 million fought for that right. The 19th amendment in 1920 gave American women the right to vote. Switzerland didn’t get there til the 70’s and Kuwaiti women waited until the 1990’s to vote.

The 1960’s brought us the Voting Rights act, the 24th Constitutional Amendment (ratified by the states in 1964), and really opened the way for people of color to vote without restriction. Side note, following this amendment, five states still kept a poll tax. Alabama, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi. The Supreme Court outlawed all poll taxes in a 1966 decision Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections. 7 states still have not ratified this amendment and one, Mississippi, specifically rejected the amendment in 1962.

Yet, according to Census data, only 60% of voting eligible black Americans voted in the 2008 election. 16 million voters of the 26 million eligible. If Obama couldn’t turn out more who can?

Vietnam was the impetus for a national movement to drive down the voting age to 18 from 21. As more and more young people were drafted into military service without the right to vote the 26th Amendment moved quickly for ratification.

So, here we are, 3 years from a Presidential election and I am talking voting. Let me ask you some questions.

1) When you have a problem with your local playground who do you call?

2) When your streets aren’t plowed who do you contact?

3) There has been a rash of robberies in your neighborhood which person is best to assist you with organizing your neighbors to action?

4) School budgets have tightened and programs have been reduced and your favorite teacher was laid off, the best person to discuss this with is:

Get my point? So, after a half dozen constitutional amendments and wars fought, men and women jailed, why don’t you vote this November 3rd? Voting in your local elections, dare I say, has a greater impact in your day to day living than the big elections every 4 years. Every election matters. Every vote counts. Exercise your right.

I know what most of you will say. My councilman is unopposed. Then vote in the school board race. Vote your conscience, Blackwell’s office would say, for or against the issues. Don’t like the casinos? Want a casino here in Ohio, voice your opinion. Don’t like either of the two candidates, voice your choice by skipping that question and moving to the next one.

For more information about candidate races and issues in your community follow these links:
Montgomery County www.mcboe.org
Warren County www.co.warren.oh.us
Greene County www.co.greene.oh.us
Visit the League of Women Voters here in Dayton for more information.

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

My Elvis

Posted on June 25, 2009

Tonight the world changed a bit for me. I am not going to get all sentimental over Michael Jackson, but I am a sucker for a happy ending. His wasn’t. His passing reminds me that I am no longer a carefree kid. Remembering “Man in the Mirror” from 1988 I am reminded how simple my life was and how easy the world was then. This was before college, before marriage, before a mortgage and kids. Before War, politics, policies and the Federal Reserve meant anything to me.

I had the parachute pants. The jacket with too many zippers and too few pockets. We watched Mtv around the clock trying to mimic his dance moves before the next school dance. Which of you Gen X’ers can say you never moonwalked in socks across your mom’s polished hardwood floors.

Here is what some of my friends have said tonight:

That MJ will be remembered as the man with perfect pitch. The dancer to rival Fred Astaire. The international music icon to surpass Elvis.

I agree.

From Twitter Dave said this:

I wonder if the death of MJ means my childhood is officially over?

Perhaps. Perhaps we are grown up when childhood stars and idols succumb to health, habit and choice and leave us earlier than they should. I hope that it causes the Gen X crowd to stop and inventory our lives. Fame, Fortune and all the toys of the world couldn’t repair the damaged between him and his father. We should remember that. Those hurts, voids and damages can’t be overcome with success and all the trappings of celebrity.

This is a clip that I love of MJ and how I will remember him.

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Kettering Council part two

Posted on January 26, 2009

Hey friends, family and other interested folks, I wanted to share some news with you. I have decided to not run for Kettering Council. As many of you recall, I ran in 2005 and had a great time. That race was my introduction to local politics and was a super experience.

This year’s incumbents and challengers are all well qualified, experienced community leaders. There is no need for me to jump into the fray. More time for work, volunteering, church and family will be available without a costly and all consuming campaign to worry about.
I continue to volunteer and serve Kettering as a member of the Parks and Recreation Board. A great way to serve with some really cool people. I will keep you informed as to my work.

Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Book Club

Posted on January 22, 2009

In an effort to grow up, I joined a book club. I have some friends, mostly women over 50, that are in book clubs. Apparently groups of people come together over wine and snacks and discuss what they are reading. One time back before Christmas my son Caleb and I interupted a book club at the book store at the mall. People discussing a book. This is what cultured mature folks do apparently in the suburbs.

I read a lot. This is a gift from my mom. My dad read more during his later years, but mom was always reading. She read paperback novels, but she also read diligently when she went to college during my high school years. Admittedly I didn’t read much in college but soon after I found an entire world out there in print. I soaked up the classics that I neglected in school, swallowed Twain and Hemingway to the last drop, traveled the world with them both. Got lost in far off tales by Jimmy Buffett and lived vicariously through Grisham’s lawyers.

Recently politics have captured my attention and I re-read what de Tocqueville had to say about our young democracy, what Lincoln had to say about politics 150 years ago, what Rove says now, and what Obama says our politics will look like. Cuba has my interest right now while I work through a comprehensive history of that little Caribbean gem.

The book club. That is how we started this discussion. Earlier today I gathered with 7 other gentlemen to discuss a book that has been on my radar for sometime. The Pact. This book is a narrative about the real lives of three boys, now men, who decided that they would stick together to reach their goals. These men came from broken homes in neighborhoods where sucess was defined by instant wealth and thug life fame.

Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment