The November 3 election will bring significant shifts in California's political landscape.
Come Tuesday night, polls show, California may have a Democratic Governor, Lieutenant Governor, two Democratic U.S. Senators, and Democrat-controlled state Legislature. The Republican Party will know just how alienated the Latino electorate is by Proposition 187 and subsequent referenda. We will find out just who was hurt most by the sordid and drawn-out Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, Clinton's supporters or his detractors.
But despite the high stakes, public opinion polls reflect the strong possibility of a low voter turnout. It bothers me that such momentous decisions might be made by a minority of eligible voters.
Apathy has not infected me, however. In fact, I'm eager to step into the polling booth. I didn't quite understand why until I heard an intriguing comment by humorist P.J. O'Rourke.
In a speech last week at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, O'Rourke suggested that voter apathy would disappear if only Americans would weigh the benefits of our political and economic systems against the systems of other nations.
Based on my visits in the past year to Mexico City, Pretoria and Washington D.C., I have to agree.
In Mexico - until this decade - the average Mexican's vote hasn't counted. Even today, the dominant political party kills opposition leaders as well as its own, and its leading figures collude with international drug dealers and stash dirty money into numbered Swiss bank accounts.
The farther away from Mexico City, the more likely elections will be rigged. The economy is so bad that Mexico's poor will let nothing stop them from crossing the U.S. border - not border blockades, California propositions, nor news of horrid deaths of immigrants attempting to cross the desert.
In South Africa, the removal of apartheid's white minority rule has created a new set of problems. Crime is up. The economy is shaky. Racial tensions continue despite landmark initiatives like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And everyone agrees that this is progress.
Washington D.C., on the other hand, is the home of a federal balanced budget and a sitting President who is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, not above the law.
Later in his speech, O'Rourke said something else that made me want to go out and vote four or five times (if it were legal, of course). O'Rourke said that any for any society to enjoy liberty and economic prosperity there must be a government that ably enforces rule of law.
Such a statement is nothing out of the ordinary. But for someone like O'Rourke - a limited government enthusiast whose published titles include "Parliament of Whores" and "Give War A Chance" - to state the government's case is either evidence of a universal truth or a sure sign that the end is near.
His comments made me think again about whom I was going to allow to represent me, and what laws I was about to vote in or out. I felt motivated. I counted the days to the election.
But when I thought about it more, I got scared. I became scared of democracy, scared of the awesome power of the vote.
In the course of American history, we American citizens have voted for ourselves rule of law, security of property rights, and civil rights. But we could just the same have voted to remove these precious things. Today we could vote ourselves $10,000 each out of the public treasury and bankrupt the country.
What's stopping us?
Scary thought: There is no guarantee that we Americans, in exercising our right to vote, will make wise choices for the common good. In lieu of guarantees, we have to trust each other to vote responsibly.
That's a hard proposition. Sometimes when we step into the polling booth we have no idea what is going on. I remember one year I walked into the voting booth clutching some special interest group's voter guide, ready to punch whatever the guide recommended.
Fortunately, before I could prick one perforated circle, I threw the guide down and voted my conscience. My temptation to follow the guide was strong because I had spent all my time prior to election day thinking about one particular proposition and ignoring all other propositions, bond measures, and candidates. Under voter stress, the guide was enticing.
These, too, are stressful days. We may or may not impeach our president. The stock market may or may not fall or rise (hit the refresh button in your browser to find out). Your vote may or may not make a difference in the race that matters to you most. You may not feel like voting at all.
But let's remember that we have the freedom to vote - by political party, hot issues, ethnicity, conscience, or all four - because people many generations removed from us fought for the right to vote and against tyranny, and more recent generations fought a non-violent war to ensure that Americans of all races could exercise that right.
Do your part. Get in the car, walk down the street, or fill in your absentee ballot - and cast your vote.
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