My wife and I attended the “No Kings” demonstration, where it appeared several thousand fellow citizens had also gathered.
It was stirring to see such a throng exercising their First Amendment rights in the name of protecting our democracy. I was reminded also of what is by far the USA’s largest, most successful political party; one that wins election after election: It is eligible voters who don’t bother to vote.
In the 2024 election, as a case in point, 73.6% of USA voting age citizens were registered to vote. Of those, 65.3% bothered to cast ballots. In other words, of the more than 236 million eligible voters, 174 million registered and 154 million voted, a difference of 82 million (not to mention the difference between 73.6% registered to vote and 100%, or more than another 62 million).
So 154 million citizens voted, and 144 million eligible voters did not. That sleeping giant’s inaction is a crucial ingredient determining the composition of our ultimately elected representatives.
People who vote should feel free to strongly encourage family and friends who don’t to mend their ways. The more people think voting’s dearly bought franchise is too inconvenient/unimportant to be worth the trouble, the more our leadership will skew toward fringe elements.
Those supporters may be out of step with mainstream Americans, but brimming with enthusiasm for their cause, they tend to vote reliably and as a bloc.
Thomas Walker, Salt Lake City
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