Voting is Stewardship

In about three weeks, all voting age Oklahomans will have the duty to look at a ballot which holds our future. Not to be overly dramatic but primary elections DO hold and decide our future. Brad Stogsdill, a proud Miami, Oklahoman, made some observations in a recent post that will hopefully cause us all to stop and consider our part on June 16. The next two, ten, even twenty years depends on those of us willing to slow down, consider and vote here and now. Here is a synopsis of his post:

Voting is more than politics. It is Stewardship. It is the quiet responsibility handed from one generation to the next. In communities across our state, elections are not decided by millions of strangers somewhere far away. They are decided by our neighbors, our friends, our teachers, our laborers, and our families who choose whether or not to SHOW UP. Sometimes the margin between two futures is smaller than the number of people sitting at home believing their vote will not matter.

Many people have forgotten this basic principle: Character matters in local leadership. Roads, bridges, emergency services, budgets and the daily decisions affecting working families are shaped by people close enough to know us personally. We need elected officials who serve with Integrity. Every election is important, but local elections are personal. They shape the places where we raise our children, bury our loved ones, grow our crops and livestock and build our lives. We, not one of us, should never take that privilege lightly. On this Memorial Day, and in the days leading up to our nation's two hundred fiftieth founding, we must remember and show respect to those who gave everything to allow us this privilege. Freedom is not sustained by grand speeches, glossy mailers, and pricey television ad campaigns alone. It survives because ordinary people decide to show up and honor the privilege they have to Vote on a Tuesday in June.