We have an election coming up soon. An important one. We all must get out and vote. And we must work hard to persuade everyone we know to vote.

Why? We need strong democracy in our country; our democracy requires continuous renewal and improvement. We must not be complacent about it. We must vote. Our strong democracy supports our strong economy, and our science and our healthcare and our education and our arts and our sports – and our welfare. They are all woven together. Only a strong democracy gives hope to everyone. We must not be complacent about it. We need it.

As we think about other countries governed by authoritarian regimes and we reflect on our democracy, does any one of them rival our economy, our education, our technology or our culture? Where would we rather live? (Studies at leading universities support the strong two-way links between democratic governments and free-market economies.)

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that our national election in 2020 saw one of the highest rates of voter turnout in our history. It’s good that 67 percent of eligible citizens voted. But please note too that one in every three of our fellow citizens failed to vote. A census survey found 62 percent of the people who opted out “were not interested,” “did not like the candidates,” “were too busy,” “were ill” or “forgot.” In other words, they had better things to do. Seriously?

Complacency kills democracy. Vote, we all must!

David McKee
Brunswick

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