Your Voice

To follow-up with my previous post, I wanted to share with everyone the link to a video of the Third-Party Presidential Debate that streamed live yesterday.

Debate Coverage Here

(Note: the video is 2+ hours but the debate starts an hour into it…go ahead and fast forward to the debate, instructions in the video description).

So, I know in my previous post  I wasn’t trying to push my beliefs or be too political about it, but I feel the need to get into it a little this time. If that’s not your cup of tea, feel free to read no further, but I do really encourage you to watch the debate! You’ll find it refreshingly different from the same old song and dance we get between Obama and Romney.

Presidential Candidate Jill Stein made a point that I’d like to stress.

The biggest way people give up power is by not knowing we have it to start with.

In fact, there are 90 million voters who are not coming out to vote in this election. That’s one out of every two voters. That’s twice as many as the number that will come out for Barack Obama and twice as many as the number that will come out for Mitt Romney.

Those are voters that are saying no to politics as usual and saying no to republican and democratic parties. Imagine if we got out word to those 90 million voters that they actually have a variety of choices and voices in this election.

First off, I’ve always been appalled at the sheer number of people who do not exercise their right to vote, but that’s another issue. Come on, people, get out there and VOTE!

Second, I did a little fact-checking myself on the 90 million voters stat. Going off the 2008 presidential election, Obama got around 70 million votes and McCain got around 60 million votes [source].

Also in 2008, about 75 million citizens 18 years or older did not turn out to vote. Of that 75 million, 15 million were registered voters. If you account for the total US population of those 18 years or older, you’re up to about 95 million who didn’t vote in the last election [source]. I’d like to go with the 75 million number, since I’m not about to count potential votes from US residents ineligible to vote. If we go with that number, it is less than the 90 million Jill Stein claims will not turn out to vote and it is not quite double the numbers that Obama or McCain had…BUT it is still more votes than either of them had. 

I know there are people out there who are sick of all this election stuff. To an extent, I am too. People are tired of seeing politics appear on their Facebook news feeds, tired of turning on the news and hearing the latest about who told what lies, tired of listening to Presidential debates that cover the same topics with candidates that dance around the issues and twist facts and statistics to suit their needs.

We don’t have to settle for “politics as usual” as Jill Stein says. We all have voices, we all have a choice to make.

Gary Johnson made, I think, an important point as well:

Look we hear about wasted votes right now. Wasting your vote is voting for someone you don’t believe in. That’s wasting your vote.

If you’re tired of all the bull$%!+ that comes along with politics, the worst thing you can do is sit out of this election in defiance. You have no right to sit back on your couch and complain about the current state of affairs if you will not stand up and make your voice heard when it actually matters, at an election.

I’m speaking now to the non-voters. Maybe you’re too busy, maybe you don’t feel that you’re educated enough to cast a vote, maybe you just don’t think it’s that important, that your state is red or blue or whatever and your vote is not needed…

It is needed. You, the non-voters can make a difference, we can all make a difference. I get it, I get that you’re unsatisfied with what seem like your options, but there are other choices in this election! In our modern day driven by social media and technology no voice is too small to be heard, no idea too difficult to spread. We as voters and as citizens have the power to make change but we have to do our part:

Educate yourself. Educate those around you. You have many voices to choose from in this election, do not sit this one out because you’re tired of politics the way they are now. And most importantly:

If you are not registered to vote it’s not too late and it’s incredibly easy. There are many ways to do it online, but here’s one link to get you started: Register to VOTE!

I never ask my readers to share what they’ve read, but please, please share…tweet, update your Facebook status, pin it on Pinterest, post on Reddit…we need to do our part to make a difference in this election. It is possible!!