Why I Ask You to Vote: a non-partisan note

This post was originally published on September 29, 2008.



When I was in third grade, my teacher gave us two questions to prepare for debate: The first one was, “Should children have homework?” The second one was, “Should children be able to vote?” I thought that children shouldn’t have homework but that they should be allowed to vote. Since I brought the questions home to prepare for debate the following day, my mother saw them, and offered her thoughts. She said that children shouldn’t vote because they were still too easily influenced by their parents. She was pretty convincing, because I came to school with an argument about why children shouldn’t vote. Half-way through the debate and away from parental influence, I reverted to my original eight-year-old viewpoint.

I had to wait more ten years to participate in real elections. Of all the cities in which I lived, my favorite place to vote was New York City because of the old-timey lever system akin to the ones I watched my parents use. For most of my voting history, I’ve filled in bubbles next to my candidates’ names, referendums and initiatives as if I were taking multiple-choices exams.

It can be hard to get excited about voting if you think your vote doesn’t matter because it’s only one of many. It is easy to stay home (or not mail in the ballot) if you think that you’re stuck with choosing between Lousy Choice A and Lousy Choice B. I get that.

However, a couple of elections ago, a friend of mine convinced me that my civic duty was to deal with the candidates we had rather than holding myself aloof because none of the candidates fit exactly with my ideals. I also decided that I had to show up—in one way or another— to let my elected officials know what I think of the way they run my government and to help bring in other people if they don’t listen carefully enough.

As we prepare for another American presidential election, I want to encourage you to think about our candidates and do the research to find out when and if they’re telling the truth (Factcheck.org is a good, non-partisan source). Think about what is important to you. Listen to what other people say, but don’t let them tell you how to vote. Your vote belongs to you.

You will find a roundup of voting posts on Chasing Ray.

The Practical Flapper

For the third year in a row, Lucia was set to be a fairy princess for Halloween. However, yesterday we went to have her bobbed hair trimmed, and then to a consignment shop, where I found a fringed top that was perfect for a little girl's dress-up wardrobe. I told Lucia, "With your bobbed hair and the fringed dress, you could be a flapper!"* I told her only a little bit about the flapper life-style of the 1920's, omitting the seamy details in favor of the Charleston dance and women finally obtaining the legal right to vote. I did tell her that a lot of flappers smoked, and she said, "I will be a flapper who doesn't smoke."

Even though a lot of photos of flappers show bare arms and legs, Lucia wears a shirt and leggings with her dress. She is a Practical Flapper. Someday, she will read Bernice Bobs Her Hair, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

*Thanks to James Curry, who, on July 22, 2010, notified me of the broken link and provided me with a new one.

Blog the Vote

Colleen Mondor and Lee Wind invite you to Blog the Vote! Here are the guidelines:

1) It should explain why all American citizens should all vote on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.

2) It should be non-partisan.

3) It should not be rude or engage in hate-speech.

4) Post your link on Monday, November 3, and send it to Colleen or Lee: colleen[at]chasingray[dot]com or leewind[at]roadrunner[dot]com.

5) Once the master list is up at Chasing Ray, include the master link at the bottom of your own post.

Note: you do not have to be a "Kidlit" blogger in order to participate.

When I first heard about this project, I got so excited that all I heard was "Monday" and not the date, so I posted early. I'll probably edit my original post or write a new one altogether. You've got over three weeks to work on this post. If you have trouble getting excited about the process of voting, try to imagine how you'd feel if you woke up one morning and found out that you were forbidden to vote. If that doesn't work, replace "vote" with the phrases "drink coffee" or "listen to ABBA."

Whoops. I think I just emptied out half the room with the mention of ABBA.