Gibson writes: "Our media has conditioned us to think that our voice is heard only when we vote, and that the only significant voting is done every 4 years."
A protester at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, pumps his fist as participants in the Wisconsin protests rally against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's bill to severely curtail the rights of state labor unions. (photo: Darren Hauck/Reuters)
07 November 12
very American has a duty to their country and their democracy. And I'm not talking about voting.
Sure, voting is important. 2012 is one of the highest-turnout elections we've seen in years. People voting means people expressing their voice. But if Americans see voting as their only voice, they're willfully rendering themselves to silence the other 364 days of the year when there isn't a general election. Your vote is your voice, but so are your feet, your hands, your words, your writing, and your community.
We don't use our voices just to elect Democrats or Republicans or Greens. We use our voices to stop wars, speak out against injustice, or to condemn suppression of our rights. Right now, 35 million Americans don't know where their next meal is coming from, and 13 million of those are children. At the same time, the Federal Reserve is handing over $40 billion per month to Wall Street bankers and calling it "quantitative easing." Each day you choose not to speak out about that is another day that those who destroyed our economy with mortgage-backed securities wallow in cash, while children in your own neighborhood miss a meal. If that's okay with you, then by all means, stay silent.
Right now, PFC Bradley Manning, a 24 year-old US soldier (and Nobel Peace Prize nominee) who leaked footage of American war crimes to the public, has been in solitary confinement for two years in conditions which have been described by human rights monitors as "punitive" and "degrading," without even being given a trial. The president we just re-elected signed a bill into law on New Years' Eve that would allow the government to do the same to any of us, for any reason, at any time, and is even seeking to make whistleblowing a crime punishable by death. We just re-elected to Congress men and women who voted to make nonviolent protest, which is a fundamental First Amendment right, a felony around anyone with secret service protection. While the President of the United States speaks loftily about "taking the side of Democracy" for protesters in Tahrir Square, the police force in America's largest city responds to Americans expressing those same rights with overwhelming brutality with the consenting silence of that same president. If all of that is okay with you, then by all means, remain silent.
Our media has conditioned us to think that our voice is heard only when we vote, and that the only significant voting is done every 4 years. Our economy has conditioned us to silence our own voices out of fear of losing the only source of income that helps us keep the lights on and the kids fed. But our voices have always been heard, ever since we helped women earn the right to vote, since we instituted child labor laws, since we ended segregation and helped end the Vietnam War. Our rights granted to us by our nation's founders will only exist on paper if we stop using them. Be proud of voting and vote regularly, sure. But be even prouder of taking to the streets to fight oppression and demand justice. It's the only way we can force change without having to depend on bought politicians. Don't let those politicians take that voice away from you. That's our civic duty.
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