Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Into The Void - with John Miller

Voters, in America, don't seem to feel a need to go to the polls when elections roll around and cast their ballot.

It has been said all politicians are crooks and there's nothing the people can do about it. It has also been said one vote doesn't make a difference. Wrong on both counts.

Millions of American men and women have given their lives in order for us to have the right to choose who we want to lead us. Granted, we haven't always made the best choices, but we did get to choose.

Right now, in Arkansas, three members of the state government, the House and Senate, have been indicted on criminal charges. This has led to more comments about politicians being thieves and crooked.

We have term limits in Arkansas. State senators can serve two terms, 12 years, and representatives can serve three two-year terms. All this has done is give special interest groups free reign at the state capitol.

After all, the lobbyists know more about the workings of state government than the elected officials, and can get their way while the citizens of Arkansas are left out in the cold.

We didn't need any law limiting terms for politicians put on the books, one already existed  it was called the VOTE. The public could more effectively limit a bad politician's career than term limits do by casting him out of office.

Now, though, because the people don't want to be bothered with something as mundane as politics and elections, we have term limits and all the headaches that go with them. Our elected officials, at the state level, are just beginning to understand their jobs when they're tossed aside like yesterday's garbage.

New officials are put in to take their place and have no clue as to what they're supposed to do, or the extend of their power, and are then at the mercy of the governor and lobbyists.

A strong-willed governor can bully a house and senate full of new members, pushing legislation through which may not be good for the state or its people, yet the representatives won't have the experience or know-how to fight back to quell a power-mad governor.

It would be nice to see term limits removed and give the power back to the voting public. However, it would be even better if the voting public would get off its lazy posterior, go to the polls and speak loudly at every election.

All too often elections are decided by less than 50 percent of the voters. Most, in fact, are decided by less than 40 percent.

The 1996 Presidential Election was decided by 43 percent of the voters across America. Folks, this is more than sad, it's scary.

With so few voting it means those who do have the power. It also means a charismatic politician can woo the voters, swaying them to his way of thinking and turn out to be another Hitler.

Think about all the people who died during the founding of this great nation in the 18th century.

Think about those who gave their lives during the War Between the States, World War I and World War II. They died fighting for what they believed in and so the rest of us could live in relative peace.

If nothing else, go to the polls during the May 23 primary and November General election to honor the memory of those who died so we would have the privilege to vote.

This privilege could be lost a lot easier than it was won. Think about it.