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Citizens of Solemn Resolve: Change the World with Your Vote
What Voting Really Means, and Why Your Vote Matters
In the year since I started writing for Medium, I’ve watched the condition of our democracy continue to erode, becoming all the more precarious. The president, along with most of the Republicans in Congress, are unrelenting in their monstrous behavior — doubling down with their daily falsehoods, scornfulness, cruelty, capriciousness, and gaslighting. Recently, they even allowed Brett Kavanaugh — a man of belligerent temperament who was clearly an alcoholic in denial — to lie under oath and still be approved for a seat on the Supreme Court. Despite these setbacks, we cannot allow ourselves to be overwhelmed. Now is not the time to give in to despair.
If you’re weary of America being run by “Me, the President” rather than “We the People,” there’s still something you can do about it. Millions upon millions of Americans are fed up, just like you. But reacting with our outrage is not enough. The only way to stop this trainwreck towards tyranny is to vote.
The word vote in fact means “to make a solemn promise, to declare in earnest one’s choice, with consecrated resolve.” So we should never take lightly our sacred honor to vote. More than ever, every vote counts. Your vote will make a difference. Many elections are decided by the slimmest of margins. Furthermore, when good people don’t vote at all, bad people end up running things. Don’t miss your state’s deadline! You can register to vote in less than two minutes right here.
We must keep protesting, and never give up. Do you know what the word protest actually means? It’s about testifying for (pro) something you’ve witnessed, and “declaring it formally and solemnly.” By testifying solemnly, you are standing up for what you know in your heart is right. Marches are only a small part of what it means to protest; we have to take it to the next level and protest every day. And all that really means is that we keep on doing the right thing. That’s you and me, every day, choosing to tell the truth, to be kind, to be compassionate, to be a good neighbor.
Some brave souls are running for office. There are new voices of reason and ethics, rising up all across the country. For those of us not running for…
