Pennsylvania TownHall -- Where the Voice of Pennsylvania is Heard!

From the Kitchen Table

Political Speech

by Peg Luksik

With one week until the Pennsylvania primary, the media is bursting with political talk. The candidates are talking about each other. The pundits are talking about the candidates. The watchdogs are talking about the pundits. The list is almost endless.

And the American citizen?

It is a sad fact that more Americans can name the contestants on American Idol than can name their elected officials. They know more about the latest Hollywood scandal than about the positions their representatives take on any issue facing our state or our nation. And they are more likely to vote with knowledge about who should remain on the current elimination television competition than to do so in the voting booth – if indeed they bother to vote at all.

Yet while Americans ignore the freedom and power they possess in the ability to freely select those who seek to govern them, and to then hold those individuals accountable for their standards of performance, people in other countries are willing to brave any danger or indignity to have that same opportunity. They have learned about the possibility of freedom from America; now, Americans can reconnect to the incredible value of that freedom through their experience.

In January of 2005, Iraq held its first free elections. Matt Salisbury, a soldier stationed there at the time, offers an eyewitness view of what that event meant to the citizens there.

"As I watched the passing people, a small humble group approached. A husband and wife were supporting an old man between them, slowly taking steps. The old man had an IV that the son was holding aloft, with more tubes from his waist that went into a plastic bag at his side. When they passed, the old man looked at me and put his hand over his heart, showing his gratitude for the ability to vote. I watched their slow progression towards the poll.

As I watched, the familiar hiss of an incoming rocket grew louder. I couldn't do anything but stare at the Iraqi's moving towards the polls. They too heard the hiss; they were more familiar with this sound than me, but continued to walk dignified to the polling site as the rest of Alpha Company was finding cover. The hiss turned into a whine and then it hit. A house above the polling station erupted in a dusty cloud and the Iraqi's continued to march to the polls without flinching or even looking at the explosion. Just before we left for our next station, the old man walked by, holding his now indelibly purple right index finger in the air. The pride radiating from his face was unmistakable. With one act, he recovered his dignity, which had been stolen by a tyrant. How can I possibly describe the return of hope and dignity that I saw in these people's eyes?"

Here in America, we don't have to leave sick beds or brave explosions to come to the polls. Yet, a smaller percentage of Americans vote in each election than Iraqi's did on that day in January.

The vote is the loudest political speech a citizen can make. It is the only speech the government MUST listen to.

In one week, Americans in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be given the opportunity to make that speech. Let us resolve to spend this week making sure that we are able to deliver it with knowledge. And then let us resolve to actually cast our vote – so the freedom that was born in America continues to flourish in America.