As the polls open for early voting, the classic “I voted” stickers serve as a reminder of American civic duty, or the lack thereof. Bemoaning low voter participation is a tried and true American pastime. Yet, the most unrelenting aspect of this phenomenon is the chronic inaction by elected officials. In these midterm elections, no major candidate has made voter enfranchisement a key campaign issue. The landmark Voting Rights Act is over 50 years old, and still no recent administration has passed major federal legislation to update our elections system and address America’s consistently abysmal voter turnout.
Meanwhile, United States foreign policy sputters from one crisis to the next, unable to control a cascade of human rights calamities from Asia to the Middle East and even into Europe. For the first time in recent history, the number of democracies worldwide has begun to decline. This should be alarming. Democracies tend to avoid war against each other, build cooperative political and economic ties with other states, and are typically more stable than autocracies that rely on sustained repression. Fewer democracies in the world will threaten the longevity of our own; it’s about time we started to promote democracy here at home.
Read the full article at The Texas Orator.
Nicholas J. Romanow 