History Quiz On Voting

History Quiz on Voting By Michael Bromka Question: Please relate Mt. Rushmore to the following words, and then to our current season. Here’s the quote --“ . . .governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. ”Answer: The writer of those words is on Mt. Rushmore --Thomas Jefferson. A man among men, he makes no mention of women, nor of enslaved humans. Those composing the “minority” Majority would work and wait generations, centuries --some still sidelined by modes of suppression. The quote comes from Our audacious Declaration of Independence. A scrap of parchment, yet the essence of our United States of America before we had that name. Before we had country or Constitution or consensus to work and attain these treasures we hold in common. It began with an ideal, the words, and our Founders’ Vote. All of us --We the People --know about “government. ”And we all have our gripes. Even those of us who work for, or are elected to hold office in the government have gripes. But from the git-go we knew that government derives its just powers from the consent of “the governed.” That means us. We the People are “the governed.” And nationally periodically We express consent and offer direction by casting our Vote. Each ornery citizen’s say-so does not govern. We have no democracy. In $100-bill Ben Franklin’s words, we have a Republic --if we can keep it. Via our Vote .Abigail Adams and Dolly Madison dreamt of having the Vote. Enslaved Frederick Douglass furtively learned to read, fled slavery, outlasted Civil War, then lobbied to earn his Vote. Susan B. Anthony spoke, wrote, marched all her life, then died deprived so that succeeding women could Constitutionally claim their Vote. Throughout generations of Jim Crow terror, Black people yearned for fairer status that would come with their Vote, at that time deprived. On the Edmund Pettus Bridge, citizens were brutalized as they marched to claim their Vote .A good portion of the County Clerk’s work, plus of other full time professionals year round and dozens of hired help in Election season, goes to ensuring the right of each adult U.S.A. citizen in Eddy County to Vote. To Vote. To Vote! To Vote is a blessed privilege, a right, a duty --and a responsibility. Ideally, We the People each make a Vote that’s informed. We fund and attend schools to learn to read --to keep educating ourselves on issues, proposals, solutions, and candidates. The government in our Representative Republic comprises leaders whom We the People elect when We Vote. Our First Amendment right to assemble and speak --even peacefully to demonstrate --helps shape decisions that will be made by folks We choose when We Vote. Vote. NMVote.org can answer many of your questions, so start there --NMVote.orgRegister online ( NMVote.org ) or in person. Update your address ( NMVote.org ). Phone 575 885-3383 with questions (Eddy County Clerk). Watch the dates on early voting. If you are hobbled with health concerns, apply for an absentee ballot ( NMVote.org ). Watch the calendar to get this done EARLY .To early Vote in person, wear your mask at a non-hectic hour. If you wait till Election Day itself, choose a quiet hour or a less trafficked Voting Center. Online at the website ( NMVote.org ) you can seek and print out your sample ballot from home. Do this soon so you can study up. If you don’t care much for reading, just talk over choices with friends and family. Seek out answers to your sensible questions. Make an informed Vote. Vote!