Wasted Vote?

When you look at the raw numbers, your vote usually doesn't matter. I could have stayed home yesterday, or even voted exactly the opposite and it wouldn't have made any difference at all.  I understand this, and still I vote.  I vote in every primary election, every municipal election, and every statewide and national race.  Why do I vote?  Why don't I see this as a waste of time?

There is the argument that if most folks think about the worthlessness of their individual vote, then they wouldn't bother and a relatively small coalition will rule.  There is the argument that in local elections, or crazy anomalies like the Bush v. Gore election that your individual vote DOES make a difference.  But that isn't why I vote.

I vote because voting is a duty.  As a citizen of the United States (and someone attempting to be a generally decent human being) I have a responsibility to care for more than myself and my family.  I have a responsibility to serve.  That's why I teach.  That's why I volunteer for my congregation.  That's why I help run a recycling mailing list.  That's why I give a smile to the Salvation Army bell-ringers, even when I can't afford to give them a dollar.

Voting is just one more way that I care for my community and my country.  Perhaps my vote is largely symbolic, but symbols are important.  It is also symbolic that I would never let an American flag touch the ground.  Symbols mean something.  This is one more way that I demonstrate my love for my country and my fellow human beings.  This is one more way that I show my children we are obligated to respect and care for those who came before us, and those with us now.