From The Shooting Star, November 4, 2007. Copyright 2007, Ellen Rowse Spero. All rights reserved.
Last Tuesday was the special election for our district’s congressional representative. In my town of about 30,000 people, just over 5,000 voted. I know that not all 30,000 residents are registered voters, but the turn-out is still startlingly low, given that this election was for the person who would represent us in the U.S. Congress at a pivotal time in our nation’s history. And the turn-out was higher than usual.
We actually vote a lot in our country. We vote for the all-star team in Major League Baseball, and the Pro Bowl team for the National Football League. We vote for the finalists in "American Idol" and who should be voted off the island on "Survivor." We vote for the president of Red Sox Nation. This is all in fun but I have this sneaking suspicion that many people take more seriously these kinds of votes than the ones for our elected representatives. I hope that I am wrong, that we as citizens have more invested in the governance of our nation than we do as sports or entertainment fans in all-stars and celebrities. After all, people around the world are not fighting for the right to vote for athletes or T.V. stars, but to have a voice in their government. We are blessed to live in a country that gives us that right. As Unitarian Universalists, we hold the democratic process as one of our principles. May we treasure this as the gift that it is and treat it with reverence.
In faith,
Ellen