Go Vote

Today is Tuesday, August 20, 2002. Now, if that doesn't ring a bell with you, let me remind you: today is election day in Georgia. Today, you and I have the opportunity to do...what a lot of people in the world would give their life to do, vote on who will lead their government. The vote of we-the-people is the foundation of democracy, the keystone of individual freedom.

Today's primary election is actually the point at which the two parties, Democrats and Republicans, choose their candidates for the general election in November... and that brings up another important point. The United States has developed a unique competitive two-party system which seems to work better than most other countries' systems. Some countries have a one-party system, which means the political insiders select the candidates and the voters merely ratify what they have already done. And other countries have multiple parties, and their legislatures are a mess of wrangling and dealmaking. We are not limited to two parties, but every time we have tried to add a third party, or gone back to one party...shall we say unusual things have happened.

Now, the scary part about all this is we have a lot of citizens who are not even registered to vote, and of those who ARE registered only about one-third will go to the polls today and vote. One out of three. History will tell you that is dangerous.

Winston Churchill pointed out that Democracy is a very imperfect form of government, and he also pointed out that with all its faults, it is a better form of government than any other every devised. Let me suggest it is worth a few minutes of your time today to go vote.

This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.