Please Vote

Why I Vote

As the midterms draw nearer, I think about all the reasons I must vote. First and foremost, it is
because I want to live in a country that gets better. Politicians are an avenue to get things
done. Most recently there has been student loan forgiveness, infrastructure bills that will
improve climate and make many infrastructure upgrades that are long overdue and much
needed in cities across America. For seniors there is a cap on the cost of insulin. How
impressive is that? Our elders who are the bedrock of our families are now being taken care of
by concerned, committed politicians. This much good has not happened in this country in an
exceptionally long time.
In all the good that has happened there will be naysayers that will try to take your joy and turn
it around. Do not believe the hype. Just recently while conversing with a friend he told me
about conversations he had with a couple of young, Black males. Both were convinced that the
recent proposal to hire additional tax agents with the IRS would directly affect them. Get real.
The additional agents are for those in the higher income brackets that have been avoiding
paying taxes. If you are doing exactly what you are supposed to do when filing taxes, you have
nothing to worry about. If you owe, pay. It is just like every other responsibility that you have.
Get educated! During this campaign season there are bots (automated social media
communications) out there geared directly towards feeding false, hyped-up information to
communities of color to sway their vote. Do not be fooled. These bots continuously feed false,
misleading information to communities of color. Please, do not believe everything you read on
social media. Be smarter than that. It is a calculated effort. If you are not savvy enough to read
between the lines on social media sites you will be misled.
Always remember how precious the vote is. Many of our ancestors died for the right to vote.
The Civil Rights Act of 1965 protected the right to vote and was overturned by the US Supreme
Court on June 13, 2013. It has been hell ever since. There have been so many laws and actions
initiated to make it much harder to vote. This is a sacred right we have and so many of us today
take it for granted. We should be able to choose our leaders and not have our leaders choose
us. That is exactly what these newly enacted voter rights laws are doing. How evil is it that
giving someone water standing in the hot sun in a long voter line a crime? We need to use our
common sense and just think about some of the ridiculous restrictions placed on voter rights.
We must vote for those leaders in the political party that does everything possible to make it
easier to vote. It really does not matter what race or ethnicity you are, we all should want to
live in a country where there is equal justice under the law. Thumbs up, like, share and
subscribe.

Marvin Dixon, Founder
Vmgreview.com