Shortly after I turned 18 in 1970, we earned the right to vote at that age - a long fought and hard-won battle. I immediately registered and haven't missed an election since, whether local or national. When our kids were small we always took them with us to the polls, letting them accompany us in the booth to see democracy in action. After all, this is one of the most basic of rights that we have here in this country. With the history of the election process, including minorities having to endure many years without the same privileges as white men over 21-years-old had, I've always felt the need to exercise my rights, which came at a cost for those that went before me - especially the women of the suffragette movement back in the early part of the twentieth century. I won't forget them or how hard they worked for me.
But somewhere along the line I think I failed. Tuesday we voted for the school budget and candidates for the school board. At the same time, the same day I voted, I turned in my petition to run for public office here in East Hampton Village. It was a day I appreciated my citizenship dearly.But I think I can safely say that none of my children voted.
How did we go from the activists of the 1960s and 70s to the apathy of the 2000s? I am feeling a bit sad and wondering where we as a generation went wrong..
1 comment:
I have always voted in every election. During my Navy days I voted with absentee ballots. I have one son that always votes. He is the one that is a town commissioner and his brother I don't believe has ever voted.
I think it is a difference between dreamers and those that do not. We vote for the promise of a better future. Those that don't accept things as they are.
Ours is a generation of dreamers and a generation of doers !
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