Vote graphic“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Quotes on Voting | Why You Should Cast Your Vote

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Quotes on Voting | Why You Should Cast Your Vote

Why you should vote:

But freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well taught lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.
— President Ronald Reagan (40th President of the USA)

And 32 quotes on voting:

  1. “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
    — Louis L’Amour
  2. “To vote is like the payment of a debt, a duty never to be neglected, if its performance is possible.”
    — Rutherford B. Hayes
  3. “The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.”
    — Dwight D. Eisenhower
  4. “You’ve got to vote, vote, vote, vote. That’s it; that’s the way we move forward. That’s how we make progress for ourselves and for our country.”
    — Michelle Obama
  5. “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
    — Abraham Lincoln
  6. “If people don’t vote, everything stays the same. You can protest until the sky turns yellow or the moon turns blue, and it’s not going to change anything if you don’t vote.”
    — Dolores Huerta
  7. “All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.”
    — Henry David Thoreau
  8. “It’s heartbreaking that so many hundreds of millions of people around the world are desperate for the right to vote, but here in America people stay home on election day.”
    — Moby
  9. “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”
    — John Quincy Adams
  10. “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.”
    — Lyndon B. Johnson
  11. “We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
    — Thomas Jefferson
  12. “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who don’t vote.”
    — George Jean Nathan
  13. “The vote is precious. It’s almost sacred, so go out and vote like you never voted before.”
    — John Lewis
  14. “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
    — Plato
  15. “The fact that a man is to vote forces him to think. You may preach to a congregation by the year and not affect its thought because it is not called upon for definite action. But throw your subject into a campaign and it becomes a challenge.”
    — John Jay
  16. “Voting is how we participate in a civic society — be it for president, be it for a municipal election. It’s the way we teach our children — in school elections — how to be citizens, and the importance of their voice.”
    — Loretta Lynch
  17. “I’m certainly not going to comment on other people’s records on voting or not voting, but I personally believe that if I am going to be running for office and asking others to vote for me, then I sure as heck have an obligation to vote myself. Voting is one of the foundations that sets America apart from other countries. It’s very important.”
    — Andrew Warren
  18. “We march in the streets, but we will also march to the voting booth in November.”
    — Eliseo Medina
  19. “The beauty of our democracy lies in the American value of equality: if you vote, you have a seat at the table. If you speak, you have a chance to persuade others. A billionaire and a minimum wage earner have the same power at the ballot box.”
    — Christine Pelosi
  20. “Voting is not only our right-;it is our power.”
    — Loung Ung
  21. “If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible reason to stay at home doing one-hitters and watching MTV on primary day. By all means stay home if you want, but don’t bullshit yourself that you’re not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote.”
    — David Foster Wallace
  22. “Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.”
    — Keith Ellison
  23. “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”
    — Franklin D. Roosevelt
  24. “Here, in this very first paragraph of the Declaration, is the assertion of the natural right of all to the ballot; for how can ‘the consent of the governed’ be given if the right to vote be denied?”
    — Susan B. Anthony
  25. “While universal suffrage remains an ideal yet to be attained, if you’re lucky enough to be able to vote, don’t let that privilege go to waste.”
    — Chelsea Manning
  26. “If someone says, ‘Democracy is a sham, those people don’t speak for me… the system’s rigged,’ you say, ‘Vote.’ Someone says, ‘I was making a statement by not voting,’ and then you say, ‘Well I can’t hear it.’”
    — Jesse Williams
  27. “Here is the most important thing for us all to remember, for the sake of our common sanity and safety: In America, the right to vote and democratically elect a president is just as precious and valued as the right to protest and express yourself against that president.”
    — Ana Navarro
  28. “I never miss a vote; I think that’s the power of the people. A lot of people fought and died for us to have votes, for women to have votes in particular – your vote is your one weapon.”
    — Imelda May
  29. “No matter what you think about the Iraq war, there is one thing we can all agree on for the next days – we have to salute the courage and bravery of those who are risking their lives to vote and those brave Iraqi and American soldiers fighting to protect their right to vote.”
    — Hillary Clinton
  30. “The first lesson is this: take it from me, every vote counts.”
    — Al Gore
  31. “Our daughters’ daughters will adore us, And they’ll sing in grateful chorus, ‘Well done! Well done! Well done, Sister Suffragette!’”
    — Winifred Banks, Mary Poppins
  32. “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”
    — Mark Twain

We draw inspiration from those who came before us. Many of us served our country already and many of us are here because our grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, brother, sister, husband or wife served this country directly. By our work at Point One, we are still serving our country every day in everything we do to support the military and LE communities. Voting is also part of continued service so that last quoted part of Ronald Reagan’s speech may never be: “you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”