Letter: Majority must vote if it wants to be heard

Tuesday July 24, 2018

Too many stay home, giving Republicans an advantage.

Editor:
I have wondered how in this country, an example of democracy throughout the world, the will of the majority is so often overruled. As I watch the weekly assault on the Judeo-Christian ethics of compassion, wisdom and honesty, I have come to understand.


President Donald Trump's base amounts to about 35 to 38 percent of voters, yet so many policies seem designed to satisfy them at the expense of the other 65 percent. The simple reason is that the base votes in every election. According to the United States Elections Project, only about 37 percent of the voting-age population voted in 2014. As a result, we have more Republican governors, state legislators and members of Congress. Only about 60 percent of eligible voters took part in the 2016 election, and thus we elected a president and more legislators who seem unwilling to thwart policies antithetical to what the majority wants. To stop this, we must elect people who favor different policies.


So for those who don't like government officials who do nothing in the face of an attack by a foreign government; children being taken from their parents; making food less available to poor children; continued threats to health care for millions; a tax cut that doesn't help most taxpayers; a Supreme Court that has limited workers' and voters' rights (so far); and legislators who are unable to pass sensible gun laws to protect our children, then there is only one recourse.


People must vote in every election.


Berard N. Avella
Spring Township

Majority must vote if it wants to be heard