Editor’s Note: The Daily News publishes Letters to the Editor with minimal copy edits and provides a headline only if the author does not provide one. We reserve the right to withhold submitted letters depending on the content. Letters should be approximately 500 words and sent to editor@bsudailynews.com.
Dear Editor,
My name is Pat L. Smith – age “almost” 65. I ran in two unsuccessful campaigns for state office, once in 2006 as an Independent for State Senate. The second time in 2010 as a Democrat for State Representative – not because I would label myself as a Democrat, but because the Republican who had been in office forever was doing such a poor job of representing our district and I knew I could do a better job. The Democrats asked me to run against him based on the impression I had made as a candidate in 2006. So I have seen politics up close and personal.
I want you to know that our system of government — this constitutional republic — this 240-year experiment in democracy is NOT a “rigged” system.
Look at the system — when women were not allowed to vote, democracy worked and women won that battle for equal representation. In the '50s and '60s when African Americans were fighting for civil liberties our democracy worked as old, young, white, black all marched together (many sacrificing their lives) for an equal voice and for a seat at the lunch counter. Our democracy worked when the voting age was 21 and young 18-, 19- and 20-year-old men were drafted and sent to fight and die in a war without having the right to vote for the president who was sending them. They fought for freedom whether they believed in the war or not. Some of their names are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. The 26th Amendment was ratified July 1, 1971, giving 18-year-olds the right to vote because our democracy works.
Because of all of these people who fought for YOU — before you were even born — your voices can make a difference in this election. A system is not “rigged” when in 2014 Indiana had the worst voter turnout in the nation at 28 percent — that means over 70 percent of the eligible voters did not make the effort to participate in our democracy. That is apathy. That is not a “rigged” system.
There are those who want to take us back — those who would limit choices for women — like [Governor Mike] Pence who said he would not rest until Roe v. Wade is on “the ash heap of history.” There are those who want to take minorities back to the '60s and instead of making it easier to vote in America they want to make it harder for minorities. There are those who would reverse marriage equality. There are some who do not believe in climate change and want to take us backwards in our fight for cleaner air and a safer planet for everyone. We don’t go backwards in America — we go forward! Sometimes we don’t move forward fast enough — or we have setbacks — but please don’t get discouraged.
President [Barack] Obama has been president for eight years — elected when you were maybe in the 6th-8th grade and you saw HOPE and maybe in 2016 you are starting to lose some of that hope.
Well, I want to take you back to when I was in the 6th grade — we had hope, too. Then we saw JFK assassinated, MLK assassinated — Bobby Kennedy inspired us with these words: “Some men see things as they are and ask why — I dream things that never were and ask why not?” And then in an instant he, too, was gone. Nobody could blame us if we lost our hope in America. Instead we grew to be the ultimate anti-establishment generation. We demanded freedom not just for ourselves, but also for future generations. Guys grew long hair and young women chose birth control pills and “old people” (65+) thought the world would go to hell if my generation were allowed to vote — but it didn’t. Why? Because we never believed our democracy was “rigged” — wrong at times, yes; unrepresentative, yes. We stepped into the role of leadership, rolled up our sleeves and we got to work and we made this world a better place for YOU! And I’m not going back! And I don’t want you to have to go back either. Today I am placing my grandson’s future in your hands and I hope that you will NOT be in the 70 percent who choose not to vote in this election. And one day I hope to see your name on the ballot.
Pat L. Smith
pls1217@comcast.net
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