October 2025: Let’s say you’ve had it.
This column is intended to answer the biggest political questions of the day. All truth. No holds barred!
What do YOU want to know? (Submit your question to elephantsear.column@gmail.com)
Let’s say you’ve had it. You are tired of all the “noise” around all the political “issues”…
You think government is corrupt, anyway - plus you think everyone in it is looking for/getting a pay-off.
You think elections are crooked and rigged, and that Colorado is being punished – by having Space Force removed to Alabama - so why vote, anyway.
You don’t feel represented, e.g. no one is listening to you, or carrying your point of view – and if they are, they aren’t part of a majority who think the way you do, so your issues get lost.
You think what you do doesn’t matter anyway, so, again, why vote – even if you are disgusted with - choose from the following: The (a) “system” (b) Party (c) State (d) Federal government (e)…?
Well, EXCUSE ME!
This country is a Representative Democracy (we elect our leaders) and a Republic (our elected officials make/carry out laws) + our President is not a monarch). If WE don’t vote, OR step forward to run for office, WE are not participating in our own governance - and have no right - and no one - to blame, but ourselves.
You may not think YOUR vote matters, BUT consider the following:
One Vote Counts!
In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.
In 1649, one vote caused Charles I of England to be executed.
In 1776, one vote gave the U.S. the English language, instead of German.
In 1839, Marcus Morton won the race for the Massachusetts governorship by a single vote—for a total of 51,034 votes. Not content to win just one election by one vote, Morton pulled off the same feat 3 years later when he was elected to the legislative branch by a single vote. (These 2 victories earned him the nickname Marcus “Landslide” Morton.)
In 1845, one vote brought Texas into the Union.
In 1868, one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.
In 1876, one vote gave Rutherford Birchard Hayes the Presidency of the U.S.
In 1920, Tennessee became the final State needed to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. The TN State Legislature was deadlocked on the issue, and a single vote - cast by Harry T. Burn - secured its passage. Burn, then 24 years old (!), initially opposed the Amendment - but changed his vote after receiving a letter from his mother, Febb Burn, urging him to “be a good boy” (!) and do the right thing for women’s suffrage…
In 1923, one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi party.
In 1941, one vote saved the U.S. Selective Service – just weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked!
Government is US not “them”. Even if you don’t want to take credit or blame for what the government does, if you don’t vote, “they” govern without your say, and, you, in effect, are allowing “them” to do whatever “they” want. Your citizenship not only confers rights on you, it also confers responsibilities, one of which is to vote.
