“My Vote and I” have maintained a special and rather personal bond for almost a half century now.  It could be said that I came of “Age” with the “Vote” for I was merely 18 years old when the 26^th Amendment lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 was ratified by the States and thus enacted as part of our Constitution on July 1, 1971.  I was truly a child of the ‘60’s and along with many others fought through protest marches and other political activism to win my  “Right to Vote” before I turned 21 years of age. Back then the argument was simple, we wanted to Vote.  More importantly, we quite honestly felt that we deserved to “Vote.”  Our reasoning was that if we at the age of eighteen were old enough to go way over to Vietnam and die for “Old Glory” surely we could be entrusted with such an important “Franchise.”  In the chants of the movement it was “Hell No – If We Can’t Vote – We Won’t Go.”  Clear enough.

And no sooner had I stepped off the stage to claim my High School Diploma then I was recognized to be old enough to Vote.  As a young man I recognized this as a seminal “Rite of Passage” and one to be taken seriously.  After all – we did ask for it!  Thus, having then and there become a full-fledged citizen I would go to the “Polling Booth” for the first time on the exact day of my twentieth birthday, and have gone on voting ever since without missing a single election.  My “Vote” was not tied to the war as I would soon reflect and come to appreciate.  Instead, my “Vote” was, and remains, tied to my being a citizen and exercising my civic responsibility to participate in my very own democracy.  By participating in our democracy I feel deeply that “My Vote and I” have earned the privilege of  complain about America’s current “State of Affairs.”  And I take a back seat to no one, and will be rather vocal, when an election is threatened with being stolen.  “My Vote and I” stand as one when it comes to demanding my place in society.

“My Vote” is way too precious a “Right” for me to ignore, or for you to treat lightly or derisively, and it is most certainly too dear to allow anyone to take away from us. Not by our elected representatives with their penchant for gerrymandering.  Not by those self-appointed protectors of the “Franchise” who insist that I must “properly” identify myself (in whatever manner they deem fit) based soley on a concocted notion that “Voter Fraud” is our # 1 national crisis as opposed to Universal Health Care.  It would not surprise me to learn that these same folks are oblivious to the all too real threat of Russian meddling in our “Franchise.”  To this latter bunch I extend a personal invitation to press their lips against my Tush.  In addition “Voter Suppression” efforts, including depriving convicted felons from our “Franchise” and hence from participating in our democracy, are as sound public policies as permitting the “Electoral College” to “TRUMP” the popular vote.  We should instead be encouraging more of our citizens to stop being lazy and get up and “Vote.”  Our democracy and our future depend on us, as citizens, being faithful to our “Franchise.”

On top of all the cockamamie ideas on how to dilute the power of “My Vote and I” it is suggested that I accept as my friends the 12 Russian Generals and their dictator who have been indicted and invited, respectively, to sit beforea jury and to walk all over us.  All the while our government turns its back on the historical compassion exhibited towards our immigrant forbearers and sees not a thing wrong with forcibly separating children from their mothers.  With nonsense like this taking place under our very watch now, more than ever, American citizens need to Stand and be Counted.  The best way to accomplish this is to protect our “Voting Franchise” from our enemies, be they foreign or domestic. I, for one, am not prepared to surrender my “Vote.,” Are you?

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