By *Heidi Badnock
Have you read past the headline?If you have, what was your immediate feeling? Understanding? Annoyance? Disappointment?
We all know of at least one person who has said that they will not be voting in the upcoming general election and if we are being fair, we understand the global disenfranchisement with representative politics.
Despite this, we must realise that the failure to participate through voting or by voting for minority parties, governments still form, still rule and still create policies that affect our daily lives. To put it succinctly, the failure to exercise your constitutional right to participate in the electoral process does nothing beyond saving you the energy it takes to stand in a line.
Your skipping the voting process but choosing to remain glued to Facebook posts and stuck in comment sections, griping about everything under the sun, does absolutely nothing for you or any of us since we are forced to live with the consequences of your inaction.
Philosophically put, on election day, the future of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is being written one vote at a time. No matter how many votes are cast, they are more than just ballots; it is very often the single opportunity we as a citizenry have to allow our voices to be heard resoundingly.
This is the time we the people hold the power to be the arbiters of our own fate by choosing the persons we wish to lead our country. Not showing up does not protect us from the consequences of the decisions made by those who do.
Are you an NDP/ULP faithful who thinks that this time they have it in the bag and they do not need your vote? Know that every vote counts. Look no further than North Leeward where Carlos was renamed “Oney”, and “Juan Carlos”, having only cinched a long-term NDP seat by the narrowest possible of margins.
Are you a disenfranchised ULP faithful? Thinking that they have been there too long and that the country needs a change, yet find it hard-pressed to vote for the NDP? How do you expect that change to materialise? We do not live in a land of fairytales, whereby a wish for a change in government will arrive on a hope and a prayer.
Even the good book has told us that faith without works is dead! God has given us free will, and however we choose to make up our bed, we will have to lie on it.
Proverbially washing your hands of your civic duty does not absolve or protect you from its consequences. Sitting at home in your comfort or discomfort will not quell your conscience.
Individually, you are responsible for the future of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, so do not allow another person to decide your future for you or that of your family or community. Do not stifle your conscience, as the old people will say.
VOTE, because your voice is too valuable to be silent. Speak now or (Ah Beg!) forever hold your peace!
Heidi Badenock is a lawyer and occasional social commentator.
The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].