Gripe : Non-Voters Should ‘Shut Up’

I voted last Tuesday--did you? If you are like two-thirds of registered voters in California, you did not. You were probably too busy or too disinterested. You’ll complain, of course, when your taxes are raised, your home is robbed, your auto insurance rates go up, campgrounds are closed over the Fourth of July or you are denied health coverage because of a pre-existing condition. But politicians are all crooks anyway and your one voice just doesn’t matter.

Did you watch the D-day commemoration? Among the participants were Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel. In 1980, Walesa was an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard in communist Poland. He is now the leader of free Poland. His one voice, screaming for freedom, changed the course of one nation and greatly contributed to the demise of communism in Eastern Europe. Havel expressed his disenchantment with communism through his plays. He, like Walesa, paid a price for his speech--imprisonment. Yet, he now leads a free Czech Republic.

Did you hear about the inauguration of Nelson Mandela last month? Mandela spent more than 25 years in jail for expressing the view that blacks should be extended the franchise in South Africa. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of South Africans lost their lives struggling for the right to vote. American Amy Biehl, a Newport Beach native, was also among those who gave their lives for the all-race elections. South Africans waited in line for hours to vote in April’s first multiracial election. Turnout was about 90% of registered South Africans.

You, I know, had pressing business that kept you from voting. Perhaps your situation was similar to the young man interviewed last Tuesday in Santa Monica. He didn’t vote because he had to work and then had to work out and finally had to sit on a bench at the 3rd Street Promenade and answer questions from a pesky reporter about his civic duties.

I am not necessarily surprised that this Bozo by the Bay is disenchanted with the electoral process. The main “issues” in the primary were which candidate: (1) would personally fry more convicted murders; (2) had a personal fortune large enough to buy a Senate seat, the governor’s mansion or the controller’s office; (3) more strongly supported at a hot button issue totally unrelated to the duties of the office sought; (4) was a talented enough brick mason to build an impenetrable barrier across our border, and (5) could buy a slot on the most slate mailers. One needs a Ph.D. in political science to comprehend matters this technical.

Whose fault is it that the candidates are less than appealing and the campaign issues are less than relevant? As some sage philosopher opined: “People get the government they deserve.” You, my non-voting friends, deserve what you get. Either vote or shut up.