Out of Bounds
Out of Bounds
Not planning to vote?
SHUT THE HELL UP!! Yes, you read that right. This message is directed at those people who are not planning on voting in the election Tuesday. So to the rest of you who may be reading this (my family and friends, all six of you), no offense. I am not addressing this your way.
This is not meant to infringe on any ones freedom of speech rights, nor am I seeking to suppress dissident discussion about certain candidates.
My message is to those so called Americans who choose not to participate in determining who runs our local, state and federal government.
Please do us all a favor and SHUT THE HELL UP!!
If you aren’t voting you have absolutely no right to complain about how government runs, since you don’t participate in selecting those that make the decisions.
I went to church and then lunch with my husband last week and spent most of the time listening to folks talk about hot button issues that affect everyone. They covered how our country is run, the amount of money we spend in foreign country’s when we can’t take care of our own citizens, how high their local taxes are and the need to do something about the decline of the American education system.
It was heartening to hear the intelligent discourse among hometown residents. The conversations gave me hope that local people would be casting knowledgeable votes when they went to the polls.
That bubble was burst when several members of the assembled groups stated their intent not to vote for any number of reasons. Here are just four of their rationales.
1) Don’t have the time. (Are you kidding me, with early voting, absentee voting and 12 hours on election day. Come on that is absurd!!)
2) Don’t like any of the candidates. (Really, between the presidential race and numerous state and local races including sheriff and school superintendent, you can’t find one person worth voting for. That’s pathetic!!)
3) I don’t know enough about the candidates to make a decision. (Really, you are reading this on the internet aren’t you. You don’t have to rely on the party pundits who spout their scripted talking points. Nor do you have to believe everything that the talking heads tell you on the network and cable news channels. Go to the candidates web sites. They all have them, federal and state. Go to YouTube and review the debates. I guess you’d rather play poker online than get informed. Lack of information equals pure laziness.)
4) My vote won’t matter. (Okay you moron, people have fought and died to earn and defend your right to vote and you think it doesn’t matter. Our country has a history of close races, some coming down to one vote. You win the award for asinine stupidity!!)
I don’t care if you are a conservative Republican, a liberal Democrat or a Libertarian. Whether you support Barack Obama, John McCain or Ralph Nader (yes, he’s running again), the choice is yours. Make a decision and vote.
Then to your hearts content, you can tout your choices’ smart decisions in office or ridicule their opponents inept leadership if they defeat your candidate.
But if you still can’t drag your sorry butt to the polls, the rest of us don’t want to hear what you have to say. Do us all a big favor.
SHUT THE HELL UP!!
Melissa Burnsed is a noted sports and news reporter who has branched out into, as she likes to say, "her rants." She lives with her husband just over the state line in the Georgia Bend. Hence the name of her column, Out of Bounds.
