No Politics: and That's the Way I Grew Up
Posted: Friday, January 29, 2010
by Harlan Foster
Very Good Company
I've always believed in the democratic process of life and the government. It was easy: let someone else do it. After all, "I'm just one person; I'm not gonna to make any difference, anyway." And that's the way I grew up. I watched my mother and father on the days they would vote. My father would mark the sample ballot; he and my mother went to the neighborhood polls and voted the way my father marked the ballot. She never investigated, looked at or read anything on her own. That's the way I grew up. If there was an issue that needed resolution, whether in the house where we lived, the neighborhood or in Washington DC, it was always, "Aw, let someone else do it. I don't understand politics." And that's the way I grew up. End of story or so I thought.
Truth of the matter really was everything that happened, whether in the house where we lived, the neighborhood, schools I attended, the supermarket or Washington DC was then and still is my duty, my obligation, my responsibility and my commitment to know about and if necessary, take some kind of action: be involved and take part: do something but not on my own. Find someone who had an idea of what needed to be done, where and with whom. It took more than sixty years for me to become actively involved in politics and give a hunk about what's going on and who is doing what. There are agencies staffed with people in every major city (and most minor ones, as well) in the United States who know and care about politics at all levels and who are willing to share what they know and direct those who don't know but want to know. I missed them all. My father filled out the sample ballot. And that's the way I grew up. I didn't need to care.
Now at almost seventy years, my eyes are open, my ears perked, I'm chafing at the bit, straining at the leash to get involved, to stand up and be counted, to have my voice heard and to make a difference (yeah, even as one person) in the process. And do I ever. Letters leave my printer, are stuffed in envelopes and sent to the politicians I see doing questionable things. I make calls; I network with others who also make a difference. I have an opinion and I wanna be heard. If I don't get involved, then my voice will be missing and my vote not counted. Politicians are not in Washington riding on an E ticket through Space Mountain. Maybe some of them think they are. But they are responsible to me and every citizen of our country who votes and puts these people in the high-profile positions they occupy for a specific term. If they don't operate by the rules of their office, they can be recalled or simply voted out in the next election. But it takes a united effort on the part of the citizenry to accomplish these things.
What I have come to love are the results of ordinary and extraordinary citizens confronting the illicit schemes of the warped political minds in Washington, and asking the hard questions about the rotten representation of his/her constituency. There's no room for the mindless games they tend to play; not at the salaries we, the taxpayers, are paying them. The biggest bang for my buck will be the simpler form of government with the least amount of laws that will do the best good for all of us. GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES!
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)YES! And if we don't vote we have no right to complain! MarijoOh, Marijo, you are so right about that. Even in Brasil, I get my absentee ballot and vote in all the elections. Matter of fact, the woman at the election board in Idaho is a friend with whom I chat most every day. She is certain to get my ballots to me.
Harlan,I am impressed with your the article, and I wish all of us would start caring for our country and remind politicians that they are working for us, and to take their personal agenda somewhere else.and yes... GOD PLEASE SAVE THE UNITED STATES!Jose: thank you for your warm remark and including the wish for our country. The unfortunate part of DC is the politicians must believe it is there for their protection and they are allowed to do anything that comes to their minds, including a little bit of working for the people who put them there. I fear for our country, Jose. Greatly fear.
Boy do I agree. As citizens of the USA we had better all get involved or the politicians in Washington are going to sell us all down the drain.Wilda: Thanks for being in my corner. You agree with me and I agree with you; there needs to be a massive involvement to set things straight in DC or the problems generated by our elected politicians will grow like a cancer... worse than it is, now.
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