FEATURE Tonight, The Talking Ends OK, its the day before election day. The last day with no respite from the endless cycle of political campaigning. My last shot at encouraging you to get out and do your civic duty. Vote. Really. It matters. Dont listen if anyone tries to tell you otherwise. Your vote matters and elections arent over until the last polling place closes. Experts will start pontificating only minutes after the polls because thats what experts do. But they can- and have been wrong. At least half of the experts will be wrong on Wednesday. But like politicians and TV weathermen they count on your short memory. Like elected officials, theyre safe until the next election cycle- when youll see them back, talking about how their expert opinions were more right than wrong. That there will be huge quantities of spin on everything reported until the polls close. Dont pay much attention to anything including the latest problem with stray dogs (if there just happens to be a campaign for dog catcher) or the likelihood of bad weather (always a challenge to get voters to the polls in bad weather). Its all be grist for the news mill. Whos won is a question that can only be answered after all votes have been counted. Only after the polls close will that answer be apparent. Dont expect all races to be decided when you hop out of bed Wednesday morning. But expect to have a good idea about where the countrys headed in the future. So heres my last-ditch appeal to you: If you dont like the way the countrys going- or youre ecstatic about where we are- but you somehow cant quite seem to manage to get yourself to a polling place -you should keep your opinions to yourself until after the next election. You wont be entitled to share your opinion because - when it came right down to it - you didnt your opinion was important enough to go vote. Yes, there are exceptions. Emergencies happen. But I forgot doesnt constitute an emergency. Neither does too-busy, too-rainy, too-cold, or too-whatever. If youre too-anything to vote, youve already voted. You voted I dont care what happens -can color it any way you like, thats what youve done. Instead you have given someone who thinks the public lands you regularly enjoy for hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, birding or whatever- should be closed to the public an extra vote. Not voting is the equivalent of two votes to the other side. That results will be more tangible in some states. In Alabama, for example, Statewide Amendment 5 strengthens the states current Sportsmens Bill of Rights by specifying that hunting, fishing and harvesting of wildlife shall be used as the preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife. If that passes, it will seriously slow the efforts of the HSUS and others to stop hunting and fishing as effective wildlife management techniques. Alabamians have more than that at stake. Their Amendment 3 would strengthen an existing Right to Arms provision, adding that every citizen has the fundamental right under the State Constitution to bear arms in defense of himself in defense of the state. I added the italics for the last phrase because this re-assertion of a state rights issue goes on to say that right is entitled to the highest protection of the law. Despite what the opposition has said about those amendments, no proponent of either has advocated another civil war to protect those rights. What they have said is that in many issues common sense and common good intersect. And local authorities are better prepared to make those decisions - and live with them- than bureaucrats who consider most of our country to be fly-over territory. Please dont fall for the hype that tells you one party or the other is grabbing the momentum and its leaders are already preparing to take the reins. If youve ever seen the famous photo of president-elect Harry Truman holding the famous newspaper with the headline Dewey Defeats Truman you know just enough about political prognostication to realize those knowledgeable pronouncements mean absolutely nothing until the votes are counted. Or as one of my dear friends whos a hard-core tournament-type angler says so succinctly, Its all B-S until you weigh your sack. Hes right. Former Colorado legislators now out of work because they forgot that we the people have the final vote on the really big decisions know its true. They had big money, big political machines and even big media on their side. But when it came right down to it, they didnt have the people who loaned them their political representation on their sides. Theirs were the only votes that counted. But their votes dont count a bit more than yours. Use it-wisely I hope- but use it, regardless. --Jim Shepherd
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:25:14 +0000
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