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In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders makes me *want* to vote again! [View all]Alkene
(752 posts)Last edited Thu Apr 30, 2015, 01:03 AM - Edit history (2)
And it has been a long time, a very long time.
My first presidential election was special, as it should be, but all the more so due to the recent change in voting age: it had only been a little over five years since the twenty-sixth amendment to the constitution came into effect- the right to vote at age eighteen; at nineteen years of age I was old enough to kill and die in wars for the United States government, but unlike many older brothers and sisters when they were of similar age I also held the civic right to vote. I regarded that right as a gift granted through the activism of the 1960s, and consequently considered my choice for president carefully and with respect for the opportunity. I naturally expected myself to convince others of the wisdom my candidate, and was baffled by the oppositions inability to be persuaded by my passion- which was ultimately validated by electoral victory.
On January 20th, 1977, James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. became the 39th President of the United States. I had no way of knowing at that time that he would be the last Democratic presidential candidate in the general election for whom I would hold unequivocal support.
In the ten election cycles which have unfolded since the first Apple II computers went on sale and Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown, I have vigorously and vociferously supported various candidates in presidential primaries, only to settle for the Democratic Party candidate in the general election- occasionally to the point of the evil of two lessors, as the cliche goes. I eventually became jaundiced to the routine of such concessions, and began the habit of voting my conscience- basing my choice on the policies, political positions and job performance of ALL the candidates running in the general election.
As time and circumstances have worn me down, the failures of candidates I had held in esteem to win the highest office in the land or even sway the national discourse, and my own failure to persuade others to share my values, I have lost the motivation to engage others politically. I eventually lost my youthful narcissism, and developed the maturity- however overdue- to realize that anyone of political persuasion holds their beliefs with the same adamant conviction as myself, reducing political discourse to a pointless exercise in ego externalization.
Similarly, I no longer desire or require external validation for opinions, positions or allegiances that I hold; my life is my own and I am no longer burdened with the need for approbation.
I have recently been given a reason to support a presidential candidate who manifests the values and convictions which I share- without equivocation; one who demonstrates a history of working for agendas from which I can directly benefit. Am I to abandon this opportunity based on a cynical calculation of viability or be dissuaded by the contumelies of others?
I dont think so, not when, Bernie makes me *want* to vote!