A Voice, A Vote, A Virtue

I've been hearing voices lately. In fact, it's hard for any of us to avoid it during an election season. Some are harsh and hurtful. Others are quiet and concerned. Some speak vanities and foolishness. Others speak confidence and courage. On the one hand, I am appalled at the diatribe and dissembling of one particular political clique in Eagle Mountain. On the other, I am inspired by the forbearance and forthrightness of the greater part of our community.

We are all blessed in this nation to have among our most sacred rights the right to have a voice in our society and our government. The corollary to this right is the duty to use our voice responsibly. This is a powerful right, so powerful that the unfettered expression of ideas is among the greatest guarantors of an informed, and thereby free, people. It is a firm protection against the deceiver and the despot. The wise and prudent citizen would ponder various aspects of the voice we each have, and the voices we hear, in the public forum.

In the political process who is entitled to have a voice? The voting franchise is distributed to residents of a political subdivision. But are only residents entitled to have a voice? Are others who are invested in the community and have an interest in its success entitled to a voice? The principle of "no taxation without representation" would argue that a party required to fill the government coffers is entitled to a voice in how the government is run, how the monies taken by government are spent. Though they may not have a vote, it is wrong to deny non-residents who have invested in our community their voice in the public process, or access to government officials. It doesn't matter how inconvenient certain politicians may find their concern or their message.

Casting a ballot is a secret matter. The voice of the vote speaks volumes, but is silent. The secret ballot provides protection from political reprisal. Some would suggest that the principle ends there. Choice of public officials, they say, may be done with the protection of secrecy, but any party who communicates a complaint or criticism of government beyond the voting booth must forego that protection, and be exposed to retaliation by those who wield public power. What a convenient way to silence the critic or the whistleblower. A scared quiet voice that speaks the truth, speaks the truth nonetheless.

Often the voice of a shrill minority draws disproportionate attention. Citizens, and especially those in public office, must guard against giving undue weight to political cliques and special interests that attempt to hijack the public process for their advantage, while the majority is focused elsewhere. Those groups who would use government as a cudgel to beat the rest of society into conformance with their wishes have an advantage in the public policy battle. Those individuals who do not look to government as the ultimate power in society are at a comparative disadvantage in this contest. The shrill minority will stop at nothing to seize control of government, their voices shouting in an attempt to overwhelm the consent of the governed. When this happens, the majority allows it to happen. The shrill minority, intent on commandeering the public process, completes their coup while the majority is occupied elsewhere, tending to their homes, their families, and their jobs.

Those who use their voice irresponsibly, those who abuse the listener, are soon found out. The truth has a way of coming to be known. Whiners do not make inspirational leaders. The democratic process works when a voice misused is exposed and rejected by the people. It is unseemly when the voice whose ignorance is exposed or whose untruths are debunked - the rejected voice -- unable to carry the day with a substantive argument, attempts to smear the victorious voices. Unfortunately, some in Eagle Mountain who don't get their way have subjected others to unwarranted character assassination, and have taken to spinning fantastical tales of conspiracies and secret plots to soothe their bruised egos or feed their denial. Poor losers do nothing to uplift the public dialogue.

Along with the right to a voice through a vote comes the duty to cast an informed vote. It is incumbent on each of us to sort through the cacophony of voices to find the truthful, the forthright and the inspiring voice. And then, if we are to have virtue in government and society, we must, each one, exercise our voice -- our vote -- and give our support and lend our authority to those who do not abuse their public voice but use it to serve.