(#4537) There will be little to no partying if voting rights are taken away

      Most everyone I knew growing up had one thing that we all seemed to enjoy doing together and that was partying. I mean, school and work were always going to be serious chunks of our time so when we did have free time we wanted to get together and do some hanging out with fun stuff and getting enough of a buzz to make us all feel good if for only a little while until we were all back to the drudgery of our required lives. That partying was/is a consequence of our being able to control what little free time we have in our lives. Without that free time to choose to act according to our wishes is a direct result of our right to vote within our democracy.
     In fact without our voting rights we are effectively not a democracy anymore. So even our right to vote being denied is an end to democracy as well as to our self determination. Because if we cannot have a say in our representation even our desire to party is contingent upon some straw person who has the power to stop our wishes for ourselves. With democracy we get to keep that free time we have accumulated to do as we want. The connection between being able to vote for representation and having the right to party is in our ability to vote for candidates and policies that respect and balance our individualism while also respecting and balancing our social contract to live within our society.
     When democracy is not our preferred form of government we get the more harsh and intolerant regimes that restrict movement and choice. You don't see many opportunities to party in Iran, North Korea, or Russia without some heavy hand from government coming down on those that try. So if we want to keep our right to party we need to keep our right to vote. Not only keep our right to vote but to actually vote whenever an election has come about. Voting for progressive policies in order to establish a more fair and equitable society is how we keep our right to party. Make sure we party hearty by voting for the candidates and policies that protect our right to vote and actually make it as easy as possible for all of us.