I remember the first time democracy disappointed me. I was in third grade, and my class was voting on which student-submitted design should become the cover of our class book. To my critical eye, only a couple choices could be taken seriously; the rest clearly would not do at all. I passionately campaigned for the picture I thought best fit the bill (a cartoonish face peeking out from behind a book). To my great disgust, the winning selection belonged to the most popular girl in the class, a hideous and unoriginal flower (all the girls were drawing variations of it) that had no correlation at all with our compilation of short stories.
My eight year old self pondered the unsatisfactory outcome; it had been a fair vote as far as I could tell, and the only conclusion I came to was that the value of the results depended directly on the values of the voters. This is not meant to berate my classmates, most of whom probably did not consider the ramifications of their vote. They likely based their decision on one of several factors: name recognition, popular trends, and subtle pressure from classmates (or bad taste, but we won’t go there). Fifteen years later, the results of that vote could hardly matter less, but I’ve reconsidered my conclusion and think it has never been more relevant.
Americans today are susceptible to the same influences that plagued my third grade class when it comes to election time. Maybe you’ve been skimming over your ballot and found your eyes drawn repeatedly to a comfortably familiar name. I know I am guilty of voting this way (“Oh, that guy…I really like the font he used on his signs, so I think I’ll vote for him”). Or you might let the trends determine your selections (it said on the news that so and so is a friend of the environment, and a friend of the environment is a friend of me!). You may receive pressure (obvious or not) to vote a particular way (from your union, the media, coworkers, and family, just to name a few). Ultimately though, each voter is responsible for every little bubble they fill in (or don’t fill in, for that matter). Any election may have ramifications of death or life for countless unborn babies, and a vote squandered or flippantly cast can make a devastating difference: the value of the results depends directly on the values of the voters.
Few of us are called to do radical things on behalf of the unborn, like organizing marches and starting crisis pregnancy centers. But every single American over the age of eighteen has the chance to make an enormous impact through the very small act of voting. Whether you care at all about bonds or the border does not matter in the least, you have been given a voice and God is not honored by your silence. If you choose not to vote, either out of laziness or principle, I beseech you to reconsider for the sake of the little ones who have no voice at all. You are not called to singlehandedly defeat the practice of abortion, but you can take ownership of your own little vote, which is just as valuable as the next guy’s.
Maybe his name is less than melodic and he cannot afford flashy signs. Maybe she is dismissed as old-fashioned and her beliefs are far from popular. Maybe they are mocked in the lunch room at your work and ripped into by the local newspaper. Prolife candidates need your vote.
I imagine my third grade class book is buried in a box in my parents’ basement right now, stupid flower and all, and the silly cover has ceased to offend (except perhaps in the opinion of a few particularly aesthetic dust mites). However, the results of our elections can influence for decades. And to think, the value of those results depends directly on the values of the voters. Please, if you value life, get out the vote.
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