� your principles, your pocketbook, your politics or your
passion. Vote for the better candidate, whether you think the field is
desirable, or leaves a lot to be desired. In this and every election season,
no matter the reason, it�s crucial that citizens exercise this hard-won
right.
On Nov. 8, Virginians will elect
11 individuals to represent us in the U.S. House of Representatives, vote on
two constitutional amendments, pick the winning candidates vying for various
municipal offices � and, oh-by-the-way, yes, also elect a president and vice
president.
We very much hope that you will exercise your right to
help determine these outcomes.
It�s a right that a majority of the world�s residents can
only dream about or hope for, many of them reduced to �voting� in sham
elections in one-party states.
However, thanks to Providence, the Founding Fathers, and
millions of courageous men and women since � all willing to stand up to
protect it � we possess this most-precious of all rights:
self-determination.
Peril awaits and loss inevitably follows, though, for any
human possession that�s not tended and defended. No external enemy is as
formidable as internal apathy.
Yet sadly, even in presidential
elections, the right to vote is usually exercised by just slightly more than
half of us, our absence often explained by inclement weather, white-hot
anger at petty political partisanship, weary resignation over an assumed
outcome � or cynicism as to the relevance of any outcome.
Please, though, don�t let anger or apathy be your guiding
light. Let your involvement honor a remarkable process put in place almost
230 years ago, a process whose success hinges on average people like us
electing representatives who will convert good ideas into sound public
policy.
At a minimum, we should vote as a meager token of thanks
to those who in the 1770s pledged their lives, their liberty and their honor
to make this right possible, and to those subsequent generations who�ve
preserved it over and over again by putting life and limb at risk.
So, if you�re satisfied with one
of the choices, vote. If you�re not satisfied with any of them, make a
difficult decision and vote.
Vote your conscience; vote your values; vote your
interests. But as citizens, the important thing, the crucial thing, the
imperative thing for each of us is to participate in the process. To express
our views through the ballot. To vote.
The media and the politicos influence, but don�t
determine, who runs our nation. We do.
Whether you�re confident about the prospects of your
preferred candidate, merely hopeful, or even resigned to disappointment,
remember: The only �wasted� vote is the one you never exercise.
So, please, on Nov. 8, be sure to exercise this right so
hard-won by our forebears. And in the meantime, we share with you some
choice quotes about voting, gleaned from great thinkers across the political
spectrum, the globe, and the centuries.
�Government is too big and important to be left to the
politicians.�
� Chester Bowles, 20th-century American business
leader and diplomat.
�People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are
made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are
made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote � a very
different thing.�
� Walter H. Judd, 20th-century American missionary,
congressman, editor and radio commentator.
�Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers
of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe
depositories.�
� Thomas Jefferson, Virginian, 3rd U.S. president,
statesman, philosopher, inventor, architect and founder of The University of
Virginia.
�Of the many things we have done to democracy in the
past, the worst has been the indignity of taking it for granted.�
� Max Lerner, 20th-century American author and
newspaper columnist.
�Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long,
has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.�
� Richard Armour, 20th-century literary scholar and
writer of popular light verse.
�Mankind will never see an end of trouble until ...
lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power ...
become lovers of wisdom.�
� Plato, ancient Greek philosopher and founder of the
first institution of higher learning in the Western World.
