One Vote Counts

The presidential election is fast approaching. The choices are Bush and Kerry for the mainstream American voters. The alternative choice is Ralph Nader of the Green Party. Other less known choices are candidates from the left parties such as Roger Calero and Arrin Hawkins of the Socialist Workers Party, Bill Van Auken and Jim Lawrence of the Socialist Equality Party, Walt Brown and Mary Alice Hebert of the Socialist Party, Leonard Peltier and Janice Jordan of the Peace and Freedom party, John Parker and Teresa Gutierrez of the Workers World Party. There are probably many other presidential candidates out there who we don't know about. Have you made up your mind who you're going to vote for?

A better question is "Are you going to vote?" As record number of voters watched the first debate between Bush and Kerry, it's obvious that more people care about who's going to run this country for the next four years. & as we witnessed the incompetency of Bush without his spech writers, it would be a continued nightmare if he actually wins the presidency this time. Yet, is Kerry, aka the lesser evil, any different from Bush if he's elected as the next president of the United States? Does Nader have a realistic chance of winning? Do any of the other leftist candidates have a chance? What choices are there?

It is lack of choices and lack of fiath that many voters are discouraged from exercising their electoral rights. A right that countless people died fighting to secure. A right that gives you a voice. A right that millions of people around the world still don't have.

For those people who believe that their votes don't matter: I want to remind you what happened in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was elected president by the people and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was elected president by its landless farmers and badly paid or jobless workers twice. It happened because the people believed that their vote counts.

For those who are tired of allowing the limited pool of racist and filthy men to continue running this country and want changes, please believe that one vote counts. Just remember the South Africans and indigenous Venezuelans.

All changes take time and sacrifice. There is no instant gratification. Collectively we have the power to make the changes we want to afford justice and equality for all. It might not happen today and it might not happen in tomorrow, but as long as we keep exercising our rights and continuing to plant seeds of hope, it'll happen some day.

One vote at a time.

Power to the People!