[In Texas, only licensed peace officers may legally carry firearms within 100 feet of a polling location, but every voter should be ready to do battle with a civil bullet.]
U.S. soldiers landing in Vietnam remember the following warning which became reality for a horrifying number.
Some of you will be killed or wounded during your tour of duty because you will forget you are in a war.”
U.S. citizens who are voter-eligible would do well to heed a similar admonition:
Your freedoms and rights will be killed or wounded because you have forgotten you are in a war.”
War is being waged against the foundations of our Western civilization. Elections are one of the theaters, where bloodless battles are fought between competing ideologies, competencies and values. Weapons include truth, diligence, and a civil bullet in the form of a voter registration certificate. Failure of a voter-eligible citizenry to consistently utilize any one of those three ultimately leads to casualties and surrender to tyranny.
The first two parts of this series touched on truth and diligence in vetting candidates. However, researching candidates is useless unless you take two specific actions:
- Load your civil bullet by registering to vote at your current address at least 30 days prior to Election Day. The deadline for the March 1st Primary Election was January 31st. Even if you have moved within the county, you may still be able to vote provisionally. The deadline for registering to vote in time for the May 24, 2022 Primary Runoff is Monday, April 25th.
- Fire your civil bullet by voting for the candidate you trust will best “…preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies, foreign and domestic”.
What good is that civil bullet, especially in a constitutional republic, if intelligent, conscientious, rule-of-law-respecting citizens remain unengaged in the battle? Can it be considered dereliction of duty or an act of surrender to tyranny or oligarchy when one relegates his voter registration certificate to the stack of unread junk mail, and abnegates his influence to the moral relativist voter next door?
What actions are you taking to model good stewardship of your civil bullet to your children and grandchildren? Are you carving out time at the dinner table for extended discussions about issues and candidates, values and philosophies, platforms and policies, then taking your underage children with you to vote? Are you stressing the privilege of registering, researching and actually voting once your children reach voting age?
How do you respond to the rationalization, “But mine is just one vote. It won’t make a difference”? You do not have to look far for former candidates who won or lost an election by a handful of votes. While most voters are fixated on the presidential race, you have an incredible opportunity at the grassroots level to significantly impact the outcome of down-ballot races in this election. Few voters invest the time to research and make an informed decision on state, district, county, and local races which can be decided by a few dozen votes.
In the future, why not just skip the primary process and vote only in the November General election? If you waive your right to vote in the primary, or, primary runoff under the assumption you will wait to assert your influence in the November General Election, you may want to rethink your strategy. November is too late to have any degree of influence on many down-ballot races. Politicians and parties have drawn the boundaries of their districts in such a way that 95% of Texas House and Senate races are determined in the primary and primary runoff, sealing the outcome of the November General Election before a single vote is cast. U.S. Congressional districts are gerrymandered to achieve the same effect.
Freedoms and rights are lost or preserved one election at a time. Will you remember you are in a war and fire your civil bullet for the candidate who will best represent your values and live up to their oath of office? Or will you abandon your post and your freedoms, leaving them exposed to hostile fire?