The Election and the Day of Democracy
There are many complaints about the apathy of Americans with regards to participating in democracy. People point to voting rates and lament the fact that people seem not to want to be involved. This is a real issue but I feel that the underlying problem is not apathy but that people do not have time to be involved. America as a society does not set aside any time for people to participate. We work, we go on vacation, we have national holidays but none of this time is for participating in democracy. So any involvement that happens, happens on the margins, in lunch hours, on the weekends, right before you vote.
I believe the way around this problem is to set aside that time in our society. If we have time then all of the necessary actions of democracy, the debates, the research, the thinking, and the voting can fill up that space. Monica and I are going to create that time for ourselves. We are going to make Election Day, November 2nd 2012, a Day ofDemocracy. In the morning we will celebrate our democracy with all of our friends. Everyone of you who can come are welcome at our house. In the afternoon we will walk to our polling place and vote. Everyone who wants to can come with us or go to their own.
For all those who can not make it to our celebration I hope you can set a side Election Day for your own Day ofDemocracy. Celebrate democracy in your own way, walk to your polling station and vote. In this way, if we all do this, we can begin to take our democracy from the margins of our society and put it back in the center, where it should be.
Malcolm & Monica
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