Did you know that the word "democracy" is never mentioned in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution? Democracy was feared by the founding fathers.
James Madison expressed this attitude in Federalist #10: "...instability, injustice, and confusion ...have in truth been the mortal disease under which popular governments everywhere perished..."
But they knew one thing: Democracy was way better than a monarchy. So we are actually a Republic. Smarter, wealthier people are elected to make decisions for the people. (That's actually who they believed should represent us.) A Republic is also easier to manage. A pure democracy is unwieldy. I believe technology is leading us to a point where a true democracy becomes feasible. If I become mayor we're going to experiment with that. We'll use a tool like Reddit where people can submit ideas and citizens can vote on them. But in the meantime, there is a primary election today in Akron. Voting is democracy in action. The problem is that we often are never given much of a choice to vote for. Rarely does anyone offer an exciting alternative for you to vote for. This causes our democracy to break down. If all the candidates are boring and uninspiring then it makes our vote seem pointless. So I see a lot of people that don't vote because of this very thing. The ideal answer is to have good candidates to choose from. But if that doesn't exist, a protest vote is always good. A good protest vote can be very powerful. It's always much more powerful than not voting. Most candidates would prefer that you not vote. Some ballots (not ours) have a 'none of the above.' I wish we had that. It would be a strong signal. You would think you could write in a candidate. But unless that write in has gone through the proper channels, your vote won't get counted.
I get why you might just feel that it's all pointless. But in the primary election today you have a unique opportunity to send a message, if you don't like the candidates on the Democratic primary ballot. You could vote for Frank Comunale. He isn't running any more. But he's still on the ballot. That would send a cool message. You would rather vote for the person who isn't running than the people that are actually running. Plus, I think Frank is probably actually a pretty cool guy. Today is the Democratic primary election here in Akron. Anyone can vote in it. You'll just get labeled a Democrat. I, unfortunately, cannot vote. It would probably instantly negate my chances to get on the ballot as an Independent. But you can. And you should. Politicians have done a terrible job at reminding us how cool voting is. Voting is a protest. You are controlling everything with your vote. You might as well be marching down the middle of Main Street with 20,000 other people demanding that your voice be heard. And by tonight your voice will be heard. The people will have spoken. Go vote. If you don't know where to vote call the Board of Elections: 330-643-5200.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis