I have discovered that it is the people that do not vote who sway the system, allowing politicians, corporations and special interests groups to take over America. The rich get richer and poor get poorer.

I was one such person in the past. I sat around complaining about why I couldn’t have a job that paid a decent wage. Why the costs of things in life were not appropriate to living standards, and why I had to live without health insurance. Me, my friends and neighbors took pride in our complaining sessions blaming the government and the mentality of those who voted for our problems. When I was sixteen or seventeen years old, the draft was enlisted in the Vietnam War. Several of my classmates went to that war and either didn’t return, or returned in wheelchairs. I remember the internal civil war that took place in America to end that war. I was glad for the protests.

I remember Candidates speaking out back in the 70’s and 80’s, about the food shortages that the whole world would be facing by the year 2000. Telling Americans how natural gas prices would be rising along with oil and other resource shortages, that would barrage the world as time progressed unless these issues were addressed and steps taken to change these things.

I heard how fruit and vegetables would become a very expensive commodity and how our soils were depleted and no longer sustained the vitamins and minerals necessary to keep us healthy. I heard about pesticides and the cancer they caused and about the cutting down of rain forests world wide and the effect that would have on the weather as well as habitats of animals and species of plants that held resources for healing terminal diseases.

I heard candidates speak about the weather patterns and the melting of the Glaciers and how that would effect the temperature in the oceans and bring rising sea levels. How we need affordable health insurance and to restructure the public school system in America and how more world coalitions were needed to assist everyone on the planet.

I was impressed by what I heard and realized that not all politicians were Conservative Republican or Moderate Democrat. I also realized that as a planet we were in a world of hurt.

When Bill Clinton ran for office I began paying attention. I also began paying attention to other Government parties like the Libertarians and the Green Party. I listened to many of things that were being said and realized that if America did not change it’s course we were doomed to suffer ecologically as well as economically.

I liked the ideology of Bill Clinton and I also the fact that his wife was strongly involved in it. I have never considered myself to be of any particular party line, but I do know what politics I don’t like, and will vote against them in any way I can.

For so long, this country of America has been a two party system where it seems we are voting for the lesser of two evils. Let me explain why. Most of the people who vote in America are organized through their Religion and political beliefs. Some have heard about and been taught party views since childhood. Others find that their cause is more important than the party or the ecological implications. Voters are privy to the news media and newspapers but rarely search out what is going on anywhere else in the political arena. Most people are uneducated in the arena of politics and do not feel a need to educate themselves. They believe that they have no real voice anyway and that they neither have the time nor energy to research out such a complex tool, therefore they leave the decisions to those that do vote and educate themselves.

Those who do the voting and get involved in the process organize people who will vote of the same mind and then they proceed to elect laws and officials. Since you did not vote in the first place, you now have no say in this process. The elected officials voted into office now handle it. Hence, we now find ourselves living under the rules and laws of this official process, but find that these officials rarely have ours, or the rest of humanities’ interest at heart. They basically have an agenda that is not truly by the people for the people. Just by certain people for a specific group.

I do not remember casting a vote to declare war on Afghanistan or Iraq. I did not vote for George W. Bush to be my Commander and Chief and I did not vote for all the innocent people to die since such action was taken. I will vote again this year and try my best to oust this man and his close affiliate group from office. I am saddened and ashamed by the conflicts and dissension he and his administration have brought to my country and our people.

Who elected this man and his core group of henchmen to office anyway? Was it our voting system? No, it was the governmental court system. I’ve been to court in America, have you? Ah yes, now there’s a system I put my faith in. NOT! We cannot let these experiences repeat themselves. We need leaders in Government who are willing to work at changing the electoral system and put it back to a mechanism that fits the mandate, "for the people, by the people". We need leaders who understand the ecological and economic crises that not just we face as Americans but the whole of people on the planet. And we need leaders that are not afraid to lose their position and their jobs by following these ultimate realities and truth. We will not get such leaders by not voting and making our energy and voices heard.

The Christian Right is organized and poised to put George W. Bush and his administration back in office this November. If people like others and myself do not get out and stop this program, we will be in an ever-greater world of hurt than we are already. Maybe my vote doesn’t count and maybe it does. I will say this though. I know my energy and wishes do, so I will cast my vote using those as my tools.

Enlightenment is not limited to our spirituality; it is contained within our environment as well. The quality of life you have in this third dimensional body is based on the Governments rules and regulations. Our monetary system is biased and aids the rich while the poor go hungry. The destruction of the world’s ecology and quality of life for all should be at the top of any political agenda.

Equality of rights and privileges is what determines a Democracy. How dare any Country calling themselves a Democracy invade others and try to instill their will upon them. This my friends is not anti-terrorism, but terrorism itself. If I come to your house and shoot you because you don’t live your life the way I think you should, then I am the terrorizer.

This planet is currently in massive trouble ecologically as well as economically. Governments should be working together to fix and stabilize areas such as food, resources and the monetary system to stabilize and harmonize the world.

We as Americans in the so-called "Free World" have not only a right, but also an obligation to vote. Our options are not always clear cut, so often we need to vote for the lesser of two evils, but vote we must to make our energy count in the world of politics.

Many New Age people and Metaphysicians will disagree with this article and my opinion but that is fine with me. I am not your elected leader so my opinion is simply that, an opinion. If your opinion is to disagree, I see that as freedom.

I will now share my perspective on what I have observed since the George W. Bush administration took office.

I am no longer free to have an opinion that is against the current administration for fear of being arrested and called a terrorist. I am no longer safe in stating my opinions lest they be construed as a terrorist act. I can no longer get on an airplane without taking off my shoes. Half of the individuals I have counseled, who had good paying jobs, have been out of work for three years, some longer. The American Governments Deficit is the highest it has ever been under any administration. I do not hate Iraqi’s or Afghanistan’s. My food costs have probably doubled in the past four years, as have my utility costs. Homelessness is at alarming numbers. I know people who are daily one step away from homelessness, who are wonderful souls and good workers. Most people’s quality of life has become a major struggle under George W. Bush’s watch. The pursuit of happiness is no longer in anyone’s dreams or vocabulary. Despair and desperation as well as fear have become the messages of the day. Violence abounds.

I do not believe in all of the dangers this administration tells me are my reality. I believe most of these dangers exist because of this administration, and I believe that is how they control the masses. Keeping societies in fear feeds the hype that we are not safe to pursue peace or happiness. I do not feed nor believe that hype. I will not be controlled or sublimated by fear and anxiety. I will vote and continue to do so, making my energy heard among the war and destruction mongrels of the world.

Please do not fool yourself into believing that by you not voting, you are not supporting the government. If you pay taxes of any kind, be they sales, property, auto or paycheck, you are supporting the government. You should have a say in how your Countries government spends your money and who they decide to go to war with.

I will continue to meditate and pray for harmony, peace and the wealth of this planets resources to be sustained. I will not quiet my angst or voice and right to speak out about the wrongs I believe to inflicted on the peoples and species of life upon this planet. I will make my vote and energy known.