Vote or the terrorists win

Here we go. It’s one year until the next election. This next election is going to decide the future-history of our city, our state and our nation.

With this in mind, we’re going to start our get-people-registered-to-vote drive. I’ll tell you, when I look at the things that suck in this country, every single one of them comes back to the fact that people who care don’t vote. I don’t happen to believe the myth that just because people forgo one right in this democracy they sacrifice others (You know, the one that says if you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain. Wrong), but I know damned well that if people who care about others voted for other people who care about others, we would live in a different place.

I understand that people don’t think their vote counts. I can’t change that. It’s a leap of faith every time a voter puts the card into the counting machine. I don’t believe casino moguls dance electeds around like marionettes. I think voters could turn around any effect special interest money has on elections. But we have to make the effort.

So here goes. I have no idea what it’s going to take to motivate people to register to vote, and then encourage them to get to the polls on Nov. 2, 2004, but we’re going to give it a shot. We’re not going to tell story after story to try and guilt people into voting, but I’m going to use a sentence of this column every week for the next year to keep the idea of registering to vote at the top of readers’ minds. I’m going to call them RTVs (Reasons to vote). If you happen to be someone who registers to vote in the next year, drop on by the office, and I’ll give you a personal pat on the back. Maybe we’ll get your name in the paper.

RTV No. 1: People who don’t care about the quality of your education—or that of your children—will vote.