-- an opinion by
Donna Jones, ABE Student in California
I can not tell you what or who to vote for no more than I can tell
you to vote at all. What I can do is to give you the reasons why you should
vote. Voting is a benefit, a privilege, and a right allowed to the citizens of
the United States of America. This right empowers you to have a voice in what
goes on in our country.
You are probably thinking, "How does my one little vote
count?" Well, it counts a lot! It gives you the right to voice your likes
and dislikes about our government leaders. You can, with a clear conscience,
express your opinions about political issues, campaign for a candidate,
proposition, and register voters. How could you do any one of these things
without first casting your vote? Or better yet, how can you, as a non-voter, go
ask for more funding for adult literacy from your local, state and federal
politicians. You need to be able to vote for the candidates who will support
the causes that are important to you.
For 72 years, from 1848 to 1920, women such as Lucy Burn, Dora
Lewis, and Susan B. Anthony, also called Suffragettes, wanted for themselves
and for future generations of women to have the right to vote. These women were
made fun of, shamed, jailed, tortured, beaten and even killed for standing up
for their cause. They sacrificed their dignity, their bodies, their lives, for
us to be able to vote. If you want to understand what they went through watch a
movie on women suffrage. During a television movie on this subject I saw women
beaten by the police, laughed at and spit on by men. I saw one woman strapped
to a chair with a tube in her mouth, prison guards forcing food down her
throat, all because she was on a hunger strike protesting women not having the
right to vote. Even Frederick Douglass, a freed slave, supported the
Suffragettes' cause because most of them supported anti slavery. When the
slaves were freed, these women were still in bondage and now they needed their
freedom -- to work, attend college, speak in public, keep their children and
money after their husband's death, vote, and to lift the ban restricting women
from working in certain professions. In 1920, women finally won the right to
vote, and if we do not exercise our voting rights today, then we are saying to
these ladies of the past "All your efforts were for nothing." So, was
the work and suffering of women Suffragettes' wasted?
Ruth
Rosen, a journalist, wrote an article that stated, "In the 2000 presidential
election, 68% of married women went to the voting booth but only 52% of single
women cast a vote." A Ôsingle woman' means any woman who is not currently
married. It is amazing the influence these women would have on government
if they would unite in one strong voice. Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster
(a person who takes surveys) stated, "Unmarried women represent millions
more voters with very clear concerns about the economy, health care and education."
We need better health care and education for both ourselves and our children.
As people keep saying, children are our future. We must set an example and
provide a way for our children to make this country great and our future secure.
I can hear you saying, "I don't have the time or the know-how
to vote. I am struggling just to learn to read and write." This is true
and I admire what your are doing. I know, I am an Adult Learner and going
through it right along with you. We can educate ourselves on political issues
by listening to the news on the radio, watching television programs focused on
current events, and reading written materials on it. We can listen to people's
political discussions to learn different opinions and ideas on the election.
Form your own opinions. Register to vote, if you have not all ready done so -- then
run, do not walk, to your poll place and vote on election day. Remember, you do
not have to vote for everything that is on the ballot. If it is overwhelming,
just vote for the item or items you feel the strongest about. Voting is one of
the most active ways of having a voice and making your opinions count.
So
vote! It's free. You are making a difference in the way our country is being
run. Also your vote is the strongest defense against our country being ruled by
a dictator. Remember, as citizens of the United States of America, we have the
privilege and right to protect our freedom by voting.
© Donna
Jones, October 2004 - These are the opinions of the author. All Rights Reserved
Written for
WE LEARN (Women Expanding - Literacy Education Action Resource Network)