(#6205) We need to teach each other how to fight and keep our democracy!

      Our American melting pot culture has lost some of its identity. Sure we are from all cultures world wide but once we decide that America is our home we need to know what that home represents and what price must be paid to keep it. First off never miss voting. Voting is our voice even when we don't want to vocally speak others will do that for us when we vote. Traditionally we Americans have been lax in our duty to vote. I am ashamed of this as it is the only way we Americans can directly influence democratic principles. Averaging about only 50% of our eligible voters turning out for elections is to me criminal. We should have a bonus for voting while a cost for not voting. Significant enough to light the fire under our butts!
     Our younger generations coming up in schools need more opportunities to learn about how our government and our democracy operate. One civics class in 12 years of basic schooling is not cutting it and should also be supplemented with basic law, criminal, and justice classes. Freedom has a price and every generation  must learn how grave that cost is. Democracy is like a tool that needs constant oiling. We must practice it with not only reverence but with diligence. Much like eating and breathing, democracy needs our attention. It must go everywhere we go like our wallets and purses. We can never take a break from our readiness to protect it.
     I know this sounds like a lot of work but like anything worthy of doing, protecting our democracy over some little bit of time becomes second nature. So much so that it is instinctive to respond when democracy is threatened. That ideal of living in a society where we are protected from forces that live to harm is most accomplished when we are all in tune with our better natures under democracy. As we older Americans fade into our ancestry, the younger generations need to know what importance we can leave them. Nothing in life is greater than passing on the courage and wisdom of keeping our democracy evolving and safe. A most precious duty to teach and to learn!