Dear American friends, family members, and colleagues: please vote. 

Spoiler alert: while very tempted, I am not going to advocate for one candidate or the other in this year’s elections. That choice is completely up to you as Americans. All I request is one thing: please take the time to utilize the tremendous privilege we have in this country that many countries around the world do not have: the right to vote for whichever candidate we choose.

With all the insanity going on in this election cycle (and I do mean insanity), it is very easy to lose patience, to get upset or to become totally apathetic. Some people cannot believe that in a country of 350 million people we don’t have better choices than we have, and therefore believe it may be better not to vote at all.

I have a very different view. As a student of world history, I like to remind my students and executives in the many talks I give that we are blessed in the United States to be part of the longest continuous Democratic Republic in the history of mankind. I believe we are in the 248th year of this grand experiment.

It is clear we have many issues and challenges to address, but I continue to believe that America is a great country. In spite of our problems, I find it interesting that America continues to be one of the few countries that people are trying to immigrate to (not from).

I started to make a list of some of the reasons I hear that people may not vote as well as my reaction (opinion):

  1. “I don’t like either candidate.” OK, then either vote for the lesser of two evils, or a write-in candidate.
  2. “I’m busy and I don’t have the time.” I personally find this one unacceptable. Many of our fathers and grandfathers, as well as our friends and neighbors risked their lives, and many sacrificed their lives, for the sake of our democracy. Hard to imagine we cannot find the time to vote.
  3. “I do not like the current electoral college system.” The electoral college system exists because we operate as a representative democracy consisting of 50 individual states. However, if you don’t like the system, we have the ability as a country to vote to change the system. In the meantime, this is the system, and let’s make the best of it.
  4. “I don’t believe either of the candidates is qualified to be president of the United States.” I believe no one person can meet all of the requirements of this complicated position without a lot of help. If we believe they need help, is each of us willing to do something about it to help? Or are we waiting for that group of people that I often refer to as “those guys?” Some other group of individuals rather than each of us? As I often remind my students, WE ARE THOSE GUYS! So let’s stop watching the movie, and if we don’t like it, let’s try getting in the movie and doing something about it.

OK, one last point. Maybe rather than talking about the idea of making America great again, maybe we should realize that America is already great, and we can make it even greater by taking an active part rather than sitting on the sidelines and complaining.

Thanks for listening and for taking the time to vote!!👍😁

Balance | Blog | Self Reflection