Democracy is process

Great Britain used to be the greatest nation in the world. In earlier times, only Lords could vote. Lords were the most educated, enlightened and certainly the most capable people in Great Britain. Fittingly, only they had the right to elect the leaders of the country. "Ridiculous!" the leaders would cry when asked if commoners could have a say in the political process. "We know what is best, we will choose. They are uneducated, and uninformed."\nWe can even go back to the first so-called democracy, Ancient Greece, to see similar discrimination. Only men could vote in Ancient Greece. Women were dismissed from their civic duty because they were incapable of making an informed decision.\nThe list of imperfect democracies is long and historic. The United States even started as one of those nations. Women were not permitted to vote until the 1920s, African Americans were in real terms excluded until the late 1960s. Like the Brits and the Greeks, our aristocrats argued that women and African Americans should not vote because they were the least educated and most uniformed people in our society. Efficient democracies require enlightened participants they argued. If my critic's logic is correct, then we must believe that our democracy is worse off for letting women and African Americans vote. She will have you believe that people like her (I am assuming that she believes she would be a good judge of who should lead our nation) should be the only people eligible to vote in elections. \nToday we can look back at these historical blunders and laugh. Most of us have yielded our egocentric views and accepted the reality that in principal all of us have an equal say in our nation's outcome. Be it the poor old homeless man in New York, the jazz musician in New Orleans, the political scientist at Harvard, the ski bum in Aspen, Colo. or the surfer girl in L.A. All of us get one vote in each election. That is democracy; that is the American way; and that is the beauty of our country. It is every person's right to vote and Cherry is attempting to exclude people from the democratic process.That is not only downright wrong, but it is un-American. I refuse to sit idly by as Cherry Blattert badmouths the United States of America.\nEvery student should vote in November. It does not matter who you vote for. Be a Green, a fascist, a communist, a radical. Vote democrat, or vote republican. Elections are about getting the support of those who vote. Politicians obtain office by elections. Budgets and laws are approved by politicians. If you vote, the laws of our state and the funding of our University will reflect your views. You have a right to vote, you have a voice. Defy the closet elitism of Cherry Blattert, and all of her contemporaries; you have the right to vote for a reason, so that your voice can be heard.