It's once again that momentous day, September 3, which was the day when the Treaty of Paris 1783 was officially signed, formally ending the American Revolution, by which Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States of America.
On this high patriotic occasion, I offer some thoughts, as I think back to the July 4 ceremony I attended at the Chicago History Museum a couple of months ago.
The keynote speaker was Ron Gidwitz, who is active in Republican politics in Illinois, and ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination back in 2006, and is a frequent attendee of this event. He said that so many people sacrificed for the good of this country, even making the ultimate sacrifice. We owe to them to be involved in the process of our government. It all starts with voting. He rebutted the idea that "my vote doesn't matter", noting that in the recent Chicago municipal elections, one of the aldermanic races was won by less than 100 votes. He further noted that the turnout was less than 50% of the population of that ward, so that a relatively small number of people selected the alderman.
Personally, while I recognize special interests dominate the political process, that's no excuse to not vote. Not voting doesn't change anything. The only hope we have for changing anything is to vote.
Mr. Gidwitz then said we should be involved by communicating with our elected officials. Our form of government is about their being accountable to us, and dialoging with us. So we should speak up, and let our officials know what's on our minds.
I hold dear in my heart these actions and the principles behind them. We are fortunate to have this form of democratic republican government in this country, even if it's not perfect, which no government is. We should make good of it by being involved in the process.
So on this day celebrating our country, I urge you to get out and be involved.
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