Moments in Time

The following writing piece is a response from the article "Let's Not Get Out the Vote" by Robert Coulson. It is archived in the November 1955 issue of Harper's Magazine.

After reading this essay, the idea that comes to mind is that Robert Coulson encouraging people to vote and how a certain amount of people feel about marking a candidate’s name on the ballot. I think the speaker is probably a writer that has been published throughout his life and probably is an editor or a publication writer. From reading the essay, there are no context clues that are meant to be read between the line that signifies if the write is apart of a political party or group. The writer does not really tell us if he is apart of a political party. I can assume if Coulson may not be because he does not actually states anything about it in the essay; however, it can be assumed that he may not be with a political group. Does it matter if we vote? If you did a poll of that question, probably majority of those who are care and really into politics will say yes whereas those who really are confused, lost, or dang on right do not care, will simply vote no.

Coulson grabbed my attention by saying that we should be able to vote wisely and form some sort of opinion about the candidate who is running in the race to be voted a chairperson or a position in a group. Once we form that opinion we should be able to go to the voting booth and mark the candidate’s name without changing our minds at the last minute. There is no certain audience the writer is talking to since this is just about voting and persuading everyone to vote. Perhaps Coulson is talking to the non-voters since the people who do vote make it a “duty, it ceases to be a privilege.”

Though this article was written in 1955, there seems to be not much of a difference in the way people thought about voting than they feel about voting now. In one point of the essay he mentions that people are persuaded to go out and vote. By this being said I mean that often we hear other people around us that will want us to go vote and tell us why it is important for everyone, especially the youth to vote. However, by just telling people to vote, they first have to get familiar with those candidates who are running and why they want to grab the position that is up for bids. The phrase “vote this time or your vote may be gone forever” ties with similar phrases that you hear on TV, political rallies, schools, and even family members. To make it very known that some people feel pressured to vote leads them not to vote since they may not know everything about a presidential candidate or they are fretting to decided which person will get their vote. Though everyone is encourage to vote, not all will vote because they may not care about who because president or have sense enough to vote. The public awareness and pressure of 1955 and today really do not show much of a change.

I find voting important since it is an activity that involves us learning more about the important documents of the United States. I’m not engaged with all the politics and the educational influence of it; however, the person who becomes the next president does matter. The laws, bills, and amendments that will be set forth will matter to use in the long run. When the presidents make a law, I believe it will affect every citizen depending on whom it is being mandated towards a certain age group. If a person does not like what the outcome is like, then he or she should not get mad because their vote did not count since the person did not vote whether they agree or this agree with the new law or amendment. To support that some people do not because they do not, I think that not everyone remembers in American Government the process on how the president is elected or how the your votes get counted in the concept of the electoral college.

If we do not understand how important it is to vote or the voting process entirely, questions should be asked to someone that knows and could help us. Some people are registered to vote, but they do not take the time out to vote. Being this said, they should form an opinion and think twice based on what they know about a person before voting. Going along with the title, let’s not take out the vote, but keep the vote for someone who actually deserves the job and high rank of president or another position in other organizations. Everyone has a chance to vote. Our vote is our voice on paper.