The Right to Vote

Election day....always a privilege in my book.....one of the few remaining actions we can take to make a difference.  I'm hesitant to think that making a difference in the national realm of politics is a viable option anymore but doing so on a state, local and educational level is still "in our hands!"  Once you're in the voting booth (oh crap...they've even removed the privacy of voting these days) your choices are strictly your own.............or should be! Let's travel back in time to the days of our founding fathers, like Thomas Jefferson. His address to a group of religious (Baptist to be exact) leaders was a testimony to the onset of separation of church and state: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.":  I'm pretty sure ole Tom was suggesting that people should not be influenced by any governing body on the subject of who or what to believe in...or possibly even not believe in.. Tom was a very forward and independent thinker. (and "no" Bailee, I didn't know him!)  I think that was what the separation of church and state was intended to instill.   Fast forward a few hundred years to the year of our Lord two thousand and thirteen...as Tom would say!  Here's where this begins to get sticky. In my mailbox is the monthly church newsletter.  I know, I seldom attend but let me preface my opinion with one of my favorite sayings. "Being in a church doesn't make you a believer any more than being in a garage makes you a car."  It's not where, it's how!  I faithfully read the newsletter and enjoy the often witty and generally relevant mini sermon in prose shared by the Pastor.  This month I was less than impressed by a short article asking parishioners to reject (vote NO) Proposition One on today's ballot.  The proposition would allow gambling to expand in NYS... I can hear the collective gasp from the ladies in the front row now. Here's where we may trip over the line between church and state...the very fine line!  Tom hoped that we, as a people, wouldn't allow the state to tell us what (and how) to believe. Sandy hopes that the church won't dictate how "we the people" exercise our right to vote. I believe that it simply is none of their business how I cast my vote and certainly not their responsibility to lead me in a certain direction.  I also believe that how and for whom I cast my vote goes hand in hand with how and who I believe in...or not!
So, although there still may be the discussion between the separation of church and state, we are intelligent beings (most of us) and we are able to garner enough knowledge to make good decisions affecting both our government and our beliefs. Neither entity has a duty to tell us how to perform in the other.

Now, it's your responsibility to go VOTE and maybe buy a raffle ticket at the church bazaar......just sayin'