I'm voting for democracy

Chris Davis, Guy who does stuff, Pincher Creek Voice

Here at the Voice we're doing our utmost to illuminate the choices voters face in the upcoming election, particularly as it applies to the Livingstone-Macleod riding, of which we are a part.

We're not telling you who to vote for. We're not even hinting.  Personally, I vote for the person, not the party.  That's me.  I'm never going to tell you who I decide to vote for.  I certainly don't consider it to be my place to tell you who to vote for.

Here's an opinion I am very comfortable stating here:

If you don't vote, you're betraying a democratic process that was established only after thousands of years of struggle.

It's important.

It's not a perfect system, no.  Your vote is only a small pebble cast upon a large sea.  Sure.  It's also one of the most meaningful ways that you can say "I'm free".  If you don't vote, and you're of age to, then don't bother bleating about your rights, or your freedom to do as you choose.  You will not have earned those rights.  You will have denied the importance of your freedom in a very fundamental way.

To my own shame, I've missed a few elections along the way.  Some of those times, I believed myself to be insufficiently informed about the issues and the candidates and the mechanics of the bigger picture to make the right choice.

I've come to believe that voting itself is the right choice, and that the rest of that stuff follows it instead of preceding it.  I've come to believe it is better to make the wrong choice than to silently declare that I have no choice and deserve no voice.  Every time an election comes around, I now know I'm going to vote, and that forces me to actually think about what matters to me.  It forces me to weigh the pros and cons.  It forces me to be aware of the world I live in.

It validates the wounds my ancestors and yours received in the many conflicts and wars leading to this point, the bravery of persecuted thinkers, the uncountable sacrifices leading to the rights we now enjoy.  That trip to the voting booth is so very minuscule in comparison.

We're in many ways the most blessed people to have lived on this earth, right here, right now.

For that to continue, democracy demands we make a choice and fill in that ballot.