By Kathie MM
People have been stabbed, strangled, shot, castrated, burned, tortured, and killed for it–for pursuing the right to vote, and all the other rights that can be accessed through that right (including the right to make choices about who will govern). Human beings have not always had such rights, and even today, even in the United States of America, some hard-fought-for rights are denied to many.
For centuries, the major view among rulers was that might makes right. The biggest and strongest bullies built empires and used outrageous force to get what they wanted, causing enormous death and destruction in the process. Remarkably, many of the biggest most murderous bullies believed they had a divine right to do what they were doing. Otherwise, how could they get away with it?
In today’s world, there seem to be two major views regarding rights. The might makes right guys are still around. The “rights” to which they feel entitled are the rights to get rich, exert power, squelch opposition, decide who will live and who will die, who will profit and who will be enslaved, who has free speech and who must be silenced. It’s hard to hold onto those “rights” in a true democracy, so generally tyrants become more and more ruthless. You can think of your own examples in ancient and recent history.
It takes considerable control of resources and power to promote the myth that might makes right, and sooner or later, throughout history, ordinary people join together to fight for a more democratic, fair, and just society–for example, through massive, largely nonviolent resistance, as in South Africa under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, and in Poland under the Solidarity Movement. Sometimes in the U.S., major social and economic reforms have been enabled through the ballot box as in the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (whose social programs have been under attack from the right ever since).
In a true democracy, in the kind of democracy for which people have suffered, fought, and died for hundreds of years, there are certain inalienable rights–like being able to vote, move around freely, worship one’s chosen deity, speak truth to power, pursue education, and engage in gainful employment; according to the United Nations, such rights are inherent. That is, people of every color, every religion, every ethnicity, every sexual orientation are entitled to a range of human rights, as agreed upon at the United Nations by nearly every nation on earth, including the United States, in the wake of two horrendous world wars.
Unfortunately, there are still some people, including here in the United States, who abhor and fear democracy. Some of them hold political offices right now. Do you know who they are? Do you know who among the candidates tries to disenfranchise voters, rob the poor to gratify the rich, rape the environment for personal profit? And. do you know who has made the efforts, taken the risks to preserve and protect democratic and human rights? Do you know who will help protect your rights, and who will promote a sustainable environment in a sustainable democracy in a sustainable world?
You have a few weeks left to learn all you can about all the candidates running for all the local, state, and national offices in the elections to be held on Tuesday, November 6. You don’t have to die for the right to vote. Just exercise it. What better way to maintain your self-respect, honor those who fought for your rights, and help make the world better for the coming generations?
Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse in a storm. In the public domain. Source: US Coast Guard.