Stop leaving the democracy stuff to someone else

The posters adorn the walls of the high school: Vote for John Smith for class president. Supporters hand out crude fliers to classmates before class begins. This election is a popularity contest.

Voting for president of the United States should not be.

Voting for governor, mayor, councilperson or school board member shouldn’t be a popularity contest either. The candidate should be qualified for the job. There are serious issues involving every elected office, and yet there are people who see who’s running for office for the first time when they look at the names on the voting machine.

In 2014, 36.4 percent of Americans voted in the November general election, the lowest tally since 1942. We were voting for every member of the U.S. House of Representatives plus many state and local offices. Just more than one in three Americans thought it important enough to cast a ballot. In essence, the majority let the minority choose our leaders. That’s not democracy.

We scream, shout and beat our breasts while heaping disgust and disapproval on our elected officials, and yet we do nothing to change the situation when we have the opportunity to do so every two years:

“We need term limits.” “Congress should be on Medicare and Social Security.” “Why do they have more benefits than we do?” “We’re their boss; why aren’t they working for us?”

And yet, we keep sending them back to Washington, expecting them to solve the problems they created or ignored. That’s Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity.

In 2008, 62.3 percent of Americans voted for president. Four years later it was just 57.5 percent. A whopping 93 million Americans stayed home on Election Day. That’s a disgrace.

It’s time all of us looked past what the candidates want us to hear and do our homework to find out what they’re going to do for us and, more importantly, to us. Then, as responsible citizens, we can make a valid, logical and informed choice at the polls. Get out and vote this year.