I’m 55, firmly in GenX, and usually pretty positive about life in general. I’ve watched both parents die, been moved numerous times, been middle class, then poor, then poorer, then poor. As a child, I’ve watched the U.S. defeat the Soviet Union in hockey at the Olympics, watched the hostages come home from Iran, watched the president get shot, and watched the Challenger explode. As an adult, I watched airplanes hit the Twin Towers, and watched them collapse. I’ve watched the city I live in flood in a way that no one had ever seen, and then watched the citizens rise to the occasion and help each other. I’ve witnessed both the best and the worst of humanity.
The United States is the best nation on Earth. I know this. The U.S. wouldn’t have the immigration problems that it does if it was a horrible place. If it were a horrible place, why do so many want to live here? It was the courage of the U.S. that gave the people on Flight 93 the strength to fight back. It was the quiet courage of Welles Crowther, “The Man in the Red Bandana,” that helped people evacuate from the South Tower. When the U.S. is in trouble, its citizens come to the aid of the country. We, as Americans, stand up when needed.
And yet the majority of Americans do not vote in any election, but feel the need to complain about the results. They do not make the connection between the vote and the behavior of their elected officials. People complain bitterly about the president of the U.S., but completely ignore the fact that he (so far) is there for eight years, at most. They ignore their senators and representatives, who remain in office solely because people recognize the name, and wonder why nothing ever gets done. This problem persists at both the state and local level, with people either not voting or voting for a name. Perhaps if we, as Americans, paid more attention to whom we elected, there would be fewer problems that required Americans to stand up.
Lately, because of the Lindsay Clancy trial, the idea of repealing the 19th Amendment (the right for women to vote) has been batted around. Women are obviously too emotional and should have never been given the right to vote. Great. Let’s also get rid of the 26th Amendment (lowering the voting age to 18) and the 15th Amendment (which prohibits denying a citizen the right to vote based on race or color) at the same time. In fact, let’s go back to how voting was done at the start of the U.S.: the only voters were white, male, 21-year-old landowners. The thing that frightens me the most is talk about removing any U.S. citizen’s right to vote. My grandmother was 25 years old before she could vote legally because of the 19th Amendment.
When I taught U.S. history at the college level, I took class time to discuss each of the 26 amendments, especially the ones concerned with voting rights. I gave my students the requirements from the start of the nation, and had everyone look around the classroom. Since I live and teach in the Deep South, in a class of 25 students, I would have one or two students who met the qualifications.
I told them that one of the main reasons for barring women from voting was “because they were too emotional.” I would look at the young men in the room, and said, “How many TV screens are destroyed on Super Bowl Sunday?” And everyone in the class would laugh. I would tell them that their age group, 18- to 25-year-olds, are the lowest-participating group, and why the voting age was lowered to eighteen.
Laziness on the part of the American voter is no reason to start removing the privilege from people. Yes, I am well aware that, without cheating, the Democrats would never win another race, and yes, they will do whatever they must to continue those paychecks and keep their power. Yes, I am aware that there are far too many RINOS (Republicans In Name Only), and that John Thune (R-S.D.), the Senate Majority Leader, is probably one of the bigger ones, and yes, his opposition is the main reason why the SAVE Act hasn’t gone anywhere in the Senate. Why is he such a RINO? Because he doesn’t fear that his constituents will remove him.
The voting population of South Dakota is 599,763, with Republicans having 51% of that population. So all he has to do is convince just under 300,000 people to keep him in office. That is about the population of Pittsburgh, Pa. or Plano, Tex. My assumption is that not all of those 300,000 really pay attention and vote. The fewer who vote, the more he is assured his position. He has been elected four times, most recently in 2022. Since senate terms are six years, that puts him in power until 2028. It doesn’t matter what President Trump or any other official says; he’s not going anywhere, and he knows it. The only people who could have moved him along were his constituents, and they voted him back in.
It’s not just Thune who doesn’t fear his constituents. It’s most, if not all, of Congress. Why should any of them be afraid of losing his or her seat? Incumbents are reelected 97% of the time. An incumbent losing his office is unusual. An incumbent losing in the primary is almost unheard of. Why? You have to be spectacularly awful, and possibly a Republican, to lose in a primary. The Democrats can do or say whatever they want, and their voters will dutifully march to the polls and vote them back in. There is a reason why Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is still in office after 46 years. I was nine and my family lived in New York State when he was first elected to Congress. I just turned 55. He’s not still there because he’s great at his job.
We, in the U.S., have gotten lazy about voting. Even with all the changes, such as mail-in voting and early voting, which were begun to make voting easier, people still don’t participate. The U.S. set a record for voter participation in 2024, when 64% of the nation's citizens voted in the presidential election. 64%. More than half, fewer than two-thirds. It makes me wonder why the Democrats are flipping out over the SAVE Act. It’s not as if this country is going to get over 64% participation in an off-year election. It’s not as if anything will happen should the Republicans keep the majority. Most of them are too busy wanting the people who hate them to like them.
I will say this about the Democrats. They get their bills passed. Their bills are terrible for the country, but they have the spine to get them through. Or rather they did. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), “Temu Obama,” the House Minority Leader, is a very poor replacement for Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif). I don’t know why the Democrats are so concerned about losing voters; they need to be worried about voters getting off the couch and voting. They don’t need to cheat; they just need to be patient and wait for no one to come to the polls.
I’ve used early voting many times, and my mother, at the end of her life, used mail-in voting, because she could no longer physically get to the polling location. However, the rules need to be tightened. I vote on election day now, so my vote is less likely to be lost. This country does not need three weeks of early voting, anywhere. One week should be plenty. People will make time for what’s important to them. If voting is truly that important, they will appear at the polls regardless of work, family, or anything else. Cut off all federal funds for states that refuse to clean up their voter databases, which takes away the one thing that states cannot do without. Embrace the power of the word “No.” People today are so afraid of offending someone that others have learned that if they throw a big enough fit, they’ll probably get their way. If someone doesn’t have a picture ID, then they don’t get to vote. Period.
For the love of all that is holy, voters need to do their research and stop voting for someone because they recognize his or her name. Leave the spot blank if you have to. I have no problem in leaving a race blank because I don’t know who is running. You don’t have to vote for every last race. Really, you don’t. Voting is a privilege that an alarming number of people throw away in every election. Those same people often say, “My vote doesn’t matter,” “It doesn’t matter if I vote, they’ll just cheat anyway,” or “Why should I bother?” I am firmly in the camp of “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” People do anyway, but to me, it’s silly. Why are you complaining about something that you might be able to change? You’ll never know, will you?
In the history of the U.S., hundreds of thousands of people have died so you can sit on the couch and grumble that it doesn’t matter. It’s disgusting and shameful that this country doesn’t have a higher voter participation rate than it does. In the musical 1776, Thomas Jefferson demands that John Adams tell him why he should write the Declaration of Independence. He would rather go home to see his wife. Adams looks at him and says, “It’s your duty, damn you, it’s your duty.” Same thing with voting. Precious little is asked of American citizens; the least they (we) can do is try to put the right people in office.
Editor’s Note: Republicans are fighting for election integrity by requiring proper identification to vote. It's common sense, yet Democrats are spreading lies about the impact of such a measure.
Help us continue to call out these lies by joining PJ Media VIP and using promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member