Our duty to vote has an impact on our lives and nation

I met a man in his 50s who openly acknowledged that he has never voted in a presidential election in his life. According to this individual, he has always done alright by the outcome. Personally, if I were he, I would not brag about my complacency. Is it that demanding to take a few minutes and select the candidates one wants to serve in federal, state or local positions of leadership? When the framers of the Constitution of the United States drafted their amendments and articles, one of the first things they did was emphasize each citizen’s right to vote. Unfortunately, at the time, this only applied to white males. With the 19th  Amendment, women were granted and guaranteed the right to vote. Now, all citizens of every gender, race or ethnic background has not only the right but a civic duty to cast votes on Election Day, which is always the first Tuesday of the month of November.

On Nov. 3, regardless of one’s political affiliation, it is imperative that all of us who are Americans take the necessary time to choose who will represent us i the White House as President/Vice-President, in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, and in local offices, depending where we live. In New Jersey, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy has stipulated that all of us can use a mail-in ballot. However, there are those who wish to cast their vote at the polls.

Some would argue that we presently live in a hostile nation, a divided land where some voters feel marginalized, angry, hindered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for living with the coronavirus. We have those who feel that the message of “Black Lives Matter” has not permeated the very fiber of every American, and those who are tired of the civil unrest in our major cities by protestors demanding justice for those gunned down or asphyxiated by over-zealous police officers, as in the cases of George Floyd  and Breonna Taylor, for example.  There are others who feel ‘law and order’ has been held ransom by protestors who seemingly have no regard for members of law enforcement who have made a concerted effort to keep the peace.  Meanwhile  the chant “No justice, no peace” echoes through every platform of communication. On the economic front, there are many who, as a result of the pandemic, have lost their jobs. These individuals are concerned if they will every find gainful employment again.  Then, there are those who have lost loved ones, property and pets to horrific fires in California, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest. Some would say that these fires are a result of prolonged drought, the failure of the Department of the Interior’s Forestry Department to thin out the vegetation in the millions of acres charred by what they call “wildfires.”  Others contend that these are not “wildfires” but the product of man-induced climate change. These advocates feel that if nothing is done to reverse the damage caused by this climate change, then fires, floods and other natural disasters will multiply with the passage of time.

On the forefront of the pandemic are pharmaceutical companies racing to develop, test and secure a vaccine against the coronavirus. Our schools, businesses, restaurants, gyms and sports are counting on this vaccine for survival. Some would argue that we will have this vaccine by year’s end; others, possibly sooner. Some insist that should the vaccine be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and CDC, it may take another year to distribute the vaccines in a fair fashion. We may not know the pre-pandemic “normal” until sometime in late 2021. Meanwhile, life as we like it has been curtailed. We continue to don our masks, keep social distance, work remotely from home and refrain from public venues in large groups.

The aforementioned polarities must move us to avoid the temptation of complacency, as in the case of the 50-something man who brags about never having voted. To the contrary, we must get out the vote and make our voices heard.

Father Comandini is managing editor of The Catholic Spirit.