Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch

She was a suffragist, and never missed an election for the last twenty years of her life. She couldn't go to them for the first sixty four...

Ok, I was going to do an obscure mammal post today, but Andrea's internet quiz blog set me off. All right, it was primary day yesterday here in Michigan. I voted. Kim voted, she voted for the Zoo (thank you, dear), I can assume that Joe and Chud voted as well.

Now, if you are a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Michigan, and you DIDN'T vote? Assuming you were healthy, none of your family members experienced a crisis, or some other mitigating factor...

If you were able to vote, and DIDN'T... You, through your inaction, have indicated that the deaths of millions of American soldiers over the last two hundred years... isn't all that important. If you are a woman, the deaths and efforts of the suffragists only some eighty eight years ago... isn't all that important. If you are a minority... the deaths and toil of those that thought for your rights WITHIN LIVING MEMORY... isn't all that important.

I haven't missed an election since I was 22.

9 comments:

kimberkara said...

I'm sorry Mark, but I usually only vote in the presidential elections, unless something or someone catches my eye. It is not a "fuck you" to all who faught for voting rights back in the day, it is a lack of interest in politics.

cassdawn said...

well, i think you're both right.

i mean yes, actually, kim, in a very real and tangible way a lack of interest in politics is a fuck you to all who fought for voting rights. and it's a fuck you to the military. the military is compelled to act on orders. they provide a service that no one else wants to do - to put their lives on the line on a say so. and there is a very real need for people who will do so - act without question. can you imagine what a clusterfuck it would be if the marines had to have a "meeting" before every action. and the thing that is supposed to prevent these individuals from having to take that risk for ANY reason less important than the safety and preservation of our nation (or _possibly_ human rights in a larger sense . . . that is a whole conversation unto itself) is the politicians elected to have the meetings. we are supposed to elect people who will not send our men and women to die without a damned fine reason. and abdicating responsibility for choosing those individuals basically says "i don't care, send em off / don't send em off what difference does it make". and yes the president is commander-in-chief but RARELY does he make the decision alone. now i know i picked on one issue in particular but it can definitely span - a lack of interest in politics is a lack of interest in the environment . . . it's a lack of interest in the treatment of animals at a zoo, for example - if there were no regulations you can bet your ass that most zoos would treat animals in the way most likely to turn a profit.

and yeah, i am not fantastic with the voting myself so believe me my shit stinks - i'm working on it.

on the other hand, mark, we have almost nearly returned to an oligarchy and are in desperate need of change. and while change does happen through voting - it doesn't begin there and at current it is difficult to get around the fact that your vote makes nearly not one iota of a difference - for so many reasons that i would have to write my own blog to cover them all.

course while voting is definitely the fruit of suffragette labor let's not forget that the overall focus was/is equal standing under the law - the right to vote is a subset.

Joe C said...

I'm livid that "Cheeks" got in again. Damn city doesn't realize the folly. She raised the corruption known as Kwame, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I'm also disappointed in Livonia not passing the annexation. That would have been a nice tax base to draw off of. The development was going to happen either way, and if the property owner wanted to be a part of Livonia, the residents should have welcomed them with open arms.

Yay for the Zoo, though.

Drunken Chud said...

yeah the annexation not passing was bunk. they did a poor job of educating the populous on the issue. most people i talked to said they didn't know what it was about.

yay for the zoo, and i can't believe cheeks is back in either. this just proves i may owe another beer next year come king kwame time.

Cindy-Lou said...

Aren't you like 23 now??

Andrea said...

I have voted for every Presidential election since I was 18. I DO care about our country, and I didn't vote yesterday. Does that make me a communist? NO. Does that mean I say Fuck You to our troops.
FUCK NO.
My husband was in Iraq for a year, my dad served in the Air Force for 20 years and my grand father served in WWII in the Navy. Not to mention Aaron and Kim's 3 Uncles, and Aaron's Uncle Al also served. YES- I UNDERSTAND how important it is.
I ALMOST enrolled in the USAF after I graduated from Nursing School, but didn't because there was no guarantee that Aaron and I wouldn't be split up for years on end. I talked to a recruiter about being an officer for the Army, but since Aaron is a NCO and I would be an Officer it would possibly be fraternization, so I didn't do it.
Not that I have to explain myself to anyone... I will this time because I feel like I have to defend myself, since I am the one that "set you off"...but to be honest I didn't even know about the voting until about a week ago, and I didn't know much about it, so I didn't do it. That and the fact that Harvey isn't well and I was in my kitchen half the day preparing the concoction that he is supposed to eat. I also sleep during the day because I work nights. I woke up yesterday at 3PM. And, I will say it again, my last blog was for entertainment. If someone is ignorant enough to use a tickle.com quiz to figure out who they are voting for then that is their problem. But at least they will be voting, right???!?!
Blanket statements like that are bad news, Mark. Bad news.

Andrea said...

Sorry, not trying to be a bitch here. But just because I didn't vote doesn't mean I don't care about our country or our troops.
Aaron had a good point too, hem as well as thousands of other soldiers, fought for the CHOICE to vote. You can vote or not vote, but thank a veteran for the ability to choose.
:)

Andrea said...

OK so I am going to post here what I posted on mine in response to make sure you got it- with a couple grammatical updates.

I obviously took everything a little personally. Sorry Mark. I hope I didn't offend you, I obviously got bitchy and took things more to hear than I should have. I hope there is no harm done. I still heart you too.
:)

Anonymous said...

let's all join together and end women's suffrage, now!