Many people make New Year’s resolutions, even though few manage to keep them. Still, we keep trying, and many experts say any improvement is better than none, and the annual assessment of how we live, and can improve, our lives is a positive exercise.
For those looking for the best resolution to make this upcoming year, we’d like to make a suggestion. It’s something that is relatively easy to accomplish, although many people don’t bother to do it.
More voters should resolve to be more active during the many elections during 2024. More importantly, they should pledge to make better decisions at the ballot box.
Most likely, few people would deny that our current political machine — at virtually all levels — is a mess. Our president is fighting historic low approval ratings — and almost all of those seeking to replace him are even less respected.
Bickering among members of Congress has gotten so bad that physical altercations have been reported.
It’s not much better at the state and local level, where states are rounding up immigrants and sending them to other states, and enacting laws that regulate personal decisions ranging from medical care to what books people can and can’t read. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott seemed more focused on keeping people out of the state than on providing services for those who live here, and the legislature endured four special sessions, in addition to their regular session, to rehash Abbott’s wish to fund private schools with public money because he refused to take no for an answer.
In the Rio Grande Valley some school boards have spent more time and energy fighting political battles than focusing on education. Several of them lobbied state lawmakers to force the dissolution of the South Texas Independent School District, which has consistently been rated as one of the best in the nation.
Such actions, and the people who commit them, are roundly criticized, but we can’t escape the truth that we put those people in those positions. Every elected official, and every appointed official they empanel, is the result of a majority of voters who make bad or uninformed choices — and an even greater majority of people who don’t bother to vote, and thus enable the bad choices to dominate.
Greater participation can help reduce the chances that corrupt people and their confederates will win on Election Day.
Moreover, voters should remember that we elect people from our own ranks. They are no smarter than anyone else, and their election doesn’t magically bestow special knowledge or wisdom upon them.
Thus, we can’t presume that politicians know more about medical decisions than trained doctors do. They don’t know more about appropriate reading material than educated teachers and librarians do. They don’t know what’s best for children than their parents do.
Let us resolve, therefore, to take every opportunity to vote that we can. More importantly, let us resolve to inform ourselves better as we prepare to cast those votes.
If more people can make — and keep — such resolutions, we can help create elected bodies that are responsive to the people rather than to their own interests.
