I’m trying to remember that I have a blog, I rarely write here anymore, so much so, I almost forgot my password. LOL

For one of my classes we had to take a quote and write what it meant to us. I was particularly pleased with what I wrote and thought it was relevant, so I decided to publish it here. If you’re not from Oregon, I urge you to look up the voter turnout for your state. Are you paying attention? (Information source: http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/may162000/stats.pdf

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

– I find myself being pulled in two directions while evaluating this quote.

The first thing that comes to mind is a statement which outlines the opposite of the above quote. “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups”. What I mean by that is, with one small voice a person can incite a large group to action. It’s even more prevalent now with the instant nature of information.

The second thing that comes to mind is how disaffected people are today. There is so much that goes on in our world that people of all ages become disinterested. With instant access to news we should be more vocal, more informed and less willing to accept the status quo, but we are complacent. Oregon, which has a traditionally high voter turnout rate for general elections, suffers tremendously in a primary election situation. Eligible voter turnout comparatively: (From the Secretary of State’s website: http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/other.info/stelec.htm)

Year:        General:     Primary:
1996        71%        38%
2000        80%        51%
2004        86%        46%
2008        86%        59%

I only grabbed statistics for years where there are presidential elections, but as you can see, there is a reason the government picks primary elections to add funding/tax measures to the system; less people are interested in the election, so it is easier to pass.