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I have never missed voting in an election in the last 50 years. No matter the questions or issues on the ballot, big or small, I would not be able to sleep at night knowing I had missed the privilege and civic duty to vote. To this day, it surprises, shocks, and saddens me to hear people say, “Oh, I don’t vote”.
The worst is excuse is, “It doesn’t matter. My vote doesn’t mean anything. Others can do it.” Of course those people become the worst complainers, shouting from the comfort of their cozy chairs how bad things are, rather than taking a few moments to vote, and learning the issues that affect their lives.
The American Hero John Lewis recently passed away. As a lifelong fighter to preserve our voting rights, he says it best in his recent last words to America.
My father, Stanley Rosenberg, a World War Two veteran who is turning 96 soon, spent almost two years on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific, the USS Langley, fighting the Japanese who had one goal in mind, destroying America.
I often think about my father who was on that ship, who at age 19 did his part to fight for our freedom and of course our right to vote. At the end of the war, in desperation, Japanese kamikaze pilots committed suicide by crashing their planes into American ships, as navy gunners furiously tried to shoot them down before they reached the ship. Sometimes they were shot down, and other times they hit the ships. My father was part of the crew that put the fires out and repaired the ship to keep it going. He also attended the funerals of his fellow sailors killed in those attacks.
This is why it is hard for me to hear the “I am not going to vote” comment. When I think of all of our veterans and civil rights activists that risked their lives, fighting in their own ways to preserve our right to vote, it truly is a dissapointment to our grand American Experiment knowing that so many Americans can’t take the time to vote.
In the beginning, Benjamin Franklin said he hopes “we don’t lose” what the Founding Father’s just created, and 244 years later, John Lewis warned us again.
Please, do your part and contribute your voice to our American Democracy and VOTE! Early voting starts August 3rd. I can guarantee to you my father and my family will be doing so. We NEVER miss! NEVER!!
Paid political advertisement paid for and approved by Michael Rosenberg for Miami-Dade County Commissioner District 7.
