“WHY SHOULD I VOTE IN 2018 OR 2020?” — WRONG QUESTION!

By Edwin Cooney

It has been my experience that, most of the time, someone who asks “why should I…” isn’t really much interested in hearing the answer. Besides, I have learned the hard way that whenever I tell someone what they “should” do, they seldom do it. Or, they do it resentfully! Thus, my challenge this week is exceedingly monumental, for I’m hoping you will vote in both 2018 and 2020.

At one time or another, all of us find ourselves in roles we have neither created nor requested. These roles include two especially demanding, if not always rewarding, situations. The roles are parenthood and citizenship. In some ways, parenthood is the more demanding life circumstance because it requires one to fulfill both social and legal obligations. Beyond that, parenthood is preventable whereas citizenship is a challenge from birth. Even more to the point, citizenship is a birthright and is ours whether we’ve earned it or even want it.

Many of us decide whether or not to vote depending on three general factors. These factors are the degree to which we favor or dislike one of the candidates, our individual assessment of the potential value of our vote, and our understanding of the significance  of how our votes have affected our past.

History is bedecked with instances which neither the voter nor the office holder anticipated during the political campaign. Since it is easier to follow (and requires less space), let’s look at a few presidential decisions that weren’t debated during the campaign that elected that particular president.

George Washington: No voter, in either 1788 nor 1792, anticipated that President Washington would lead a federal army into western Pennsylvania to collect taxes as a result of the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. Nor did anyone conclude that President Washington would sign and advocate a treaty with the British (the Jay Treaty of 1795) that ceded trade and travel advantages to Great Britain.

Thomas Jefferson: An anti-Federalist, Jefferson ran on the idea of limited government. He emphasized that if a proposed act wasn’t in the Constitution, it shouldn’t be allowed. Nothing in the Constitution gives the president authority to purchase territory through negotiation. Yet, Jefferson’s greatest achievement was the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon Bonaparte.

Andrew Jackson: During the 1828 campaign, Andrew Jackson didn’t take a position against the Second Bank of the United States. His quarrel with the bank’s president, Nicholas Biddle, was largely personal. The result of our withdrawal from that bank was the severe economic depression of 1837.

Abraham Lincoln: Neither the 13th, 14th, or 15th Amendments to the Constitution were at issue during the 1860 campaign that sent “Honest Abe” to the White House. Neither was black emancipation.

Theodore Roosevelt: Most voters in 1904 who gave TR a full term in office hadn’t any idea that he considered human rights to be more significant than property rights.

Woodrow Wilson:  “He kept us out of war” was Wilson’s re-election slogan in 1916. That didn’t prevent our entry into World War I on April 6th, 1917.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: In 1932, FDR promised to balance the national budget by 1936. During the 1936 campaign, when FDR asked presidential advisor Sam Rosenman how he could get around that issue, Rosenman said, “Just deny you ever said it.”

Ronald Reagan: “Just watch me” was President Reagan’s response to those who wondered at the outset of his second term if he really intended to balance the federal budget. However, the fact is that he increased Jimmy Carter’s one trillion dollar deficit from one to three trillion dollars.

Barack Obama: He promised “change,” but change turned out to be more than his definition of change. Mr. Obama prescribed Liberal or Progressive change, but he failed to adequately recognize that conservatives also demanded a change which he could not provide.

Too many of us go to the polls expecting to be rewarded for our votes. Contrast this to parents who adjust to the many differences and even disappointments they experience because they possess unconditional love for their children.

Unconditional love doesn’t require of parents that they express or even feel unconditional approval of the way their children live their lives. Nor does unconditional love for one’s country require unconditional approval of where America is going.

However, the most effective way to express unconditional love for America is to vote. Of course, you don’t have to vote if you don’t want to, but acknowledge, if you choose to, that  the very freedom not to participate can be enough to enhance the value of your vote.

I will vote in both 2018 and 2020, because I believe my country unconditionally deserves my evaluation of what it is, what it stands for, and where it ought to go.

I hope you will let yourself feel the same way!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY