Everybody Voting

AMONG THE MANY GREAT THINGS about living in the United States is that no matter when or where, you're never far away, in real time and space, from an upcoming election. My father, who once said that the best form of governemnt, ultimately, is probably a benevolent dictatorship, also regularly proclaimed his love of voting. "Hell, I'll vote on anything", I believe is the way he put it. I agree with him. In fact, the older I become, the more convinced I am that we the people in our great self-described-democracy-actual-plutocracy simply do not vote often enough, or on enough issues and questions. James Madison made it clear that we the people do not possess the intelligence or education to govern ourselves, which is why he gave us a republic, a representative democracy, rather than a more direct democracy. Annother member of my family, when confronted with this historical fact, responded: "Well, he sure was right, wasn't he?". And, to an extent, yes, I suppose he was. Before Trump, for instance, I never in my wildest most dystopian imaginings woud ever have believed that we the American people would elect a man like that as president. Now, I'm ready for anything. More than ever before, I understand how Hitler came to power; alarmingly similar to the method used by Trump. But I still think we the people should be making more of the decisions which direcetly concern us and which profoundly effect our lives, rather then leaving them to elected politicians. I propose a national reforendum on women's reproductive rights. The legal and judicical systems of our great country are obviously inadequate to the task of providing wise guidance and decisions concerning this funcamental issue. While we're at it, let's vote on a national marijuana law. Stat's rights and state's sovereignty are all well and good, but in many areas of life it is confusing, inconvenient, and chaotic to live in a nation with a patchwork of laws depending on the fifty states; a national voter rights act, something along the lines of the voting Rights Act of 1965 would be desirable as well; again, congress and the courts have been useless in this endeavor; put it before the people directly. Under the current arrangement, we have the choice between two political parties, neither of which necessarily reflects the beliefs of the citizenry. It has been determined that in nearly every state, there is a constituency of environmental activists, people who want strong action on climate change and environmental restoration immediately, at any cost, to elect a strongly pro-environment congress and state governments in all fifty states. Tragically, much of the environmental movement stays home during the midterms, and only bothers to vote during national presidential elections. Arguably, the reason why the United States does not have an adequate environmelta restoration and climate change policy is not because of conservative Republcians or corporate interests, but rather, because of themselves, because of the failure of environmental champions to get out, and vote. The greater irony is that if climate change and the environment were submitted to us the people for a national referendum, and if everybody voted, the U.S. would soon have a strong, activist national policy. The dirty little secret is that on all major issues, the progressive point of view is in the majority, but, alas, we do not have a system of government which reflects the will of the majority.