Consider, for a minute, the condition of the nation in which we live.
Trump. Clinton. — This is all we hear. Media of all types have conditioned us to believe that the 8th of November is going to be the day the president of the United States gets elected. Yes, that is true. But there are far more influential things happening on this day.
Although Commander-in-Chief certainly is a powerful job title, it doesn’t hold as much power as most people seem to think. The candidates make all this commotion about the numerous things they will accomplish while in office. They say they’re going to improve our economy, our foreign and domestic policies, change regulation — fix the whole world, essentially. Well, that simply is not the case. In fact, there are very few things that the president can do unilaterally. The president’s job is to work in conjunction with the senate and congress to produce reasonable, well-considered decisions.
Many people also plan to avoid the voting polls because “It doesn’t affect me.”
Well, to an extent, they’re correct. Electing the president probably won’t affect you directly at all. You’re still going to pay taxes. You’re still going to be able to purchase alcohol at 21. The president won’t get to change that.
But there are people who certainly have the ability to change that — your local politicians.
Local governments have significantly more say in our everyday lives than the federal government. But there’s a balance. While our state and county governments have more grip on laws, individual votes carry considerably more weight with who is elected on the local level than with who will sit in the Oval Office.
When you vote for president, you are tossing your single vote into a pool of potentially hundreds of millions. When you vote for local government seats, you are one of merely a few thousand, depending on the position in question.
You, as a voter, have an enormous voice when it comes to the powerful politicians in your daily life.
For example, in a recent Senate seat runoff election, candidates David Simpson and James “Red” Brown were almost perfectly tied. Simpson finally secured the seat by a matter of 13 votes. Those 13 votes may have a considerable impact on the future of Texas. That’s 13 people who could have simply said, “My vote doesn’t matter,” and chosen not to vote.
If you really want to make a difference, but don’t feel like the presidential election is worth voting for, at least consider voting for your local government.
Your vote truly does matter.
