Are you ready to vote?

'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

The League of Women Voters is a non-profit, non-partisan political organization dedicated to the belief that voting matters, and that an electorate informed about the issues that face us is the best way to achieve the ideals of our democratic republic.

Voting is fundamental to democracy, and a right in our country that is too often taken for granted.

As a former League member once said, 'Democracy is not a spectator sport.”

We must all exercise our right to vote because 'it 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,” said Lyndon B. Johnson.

This was the creed of the men and women who bravely fought against the tyranny and oppression of a foreign king to found our nation. The founders knew that freedom is not free, but when they subsequently wrote the Constitution that was to govern this country, they did not give the right to vote to everyone. It has been a continuing struggle to extend and protect voting rights for all citizens regardless of their wealth, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs.

In the U.S., as a republic, power lies in the people, not in a monarch or dictator, and the people are regarded as having equal rights. 'One man, one vote” is enshrined in our hearts and minds. A working person's vote counts the same as a billionaire's.

'Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual),” noted Ayn Rand.

Yet, more people vote in American Idol than in any U.S. election, a statistic that Rush Limbaugh (and the LWV) finds frightening.

If voting is a right, why don't more people exercise it? Especially in non-presidential elections? Why are elections for local, county and state offices deemed less important than federal offices? It is, after all, the local, county and state officials who directly impact our daily lives in so many ways - from taxation, to schools, to land use (including infrastructure and environmental issues), to public health and safety and to business climate. They are the leaders who either go on to federal offices or are influential in choosing those who do seek higher offices, either in Congress, the federal courts, or the executive branch. Why do even the congressional races seem to matter less than presidential ones?

While many feel recent congresses have been locked in partisanship, they still have passed many laws, as well as voted on the selection of judges and ambassadors, treaties and more.

Your vote does matter.

As Arnold Schwarzenegger has so inspiringly said, 'I believe with all my heart that America remains ‘the great idea' that inspires the world. It is a privilege to be born here. It is an honor to become a citizen here. It is a gift to raise your family here, to vote here, and to live here.”

The general election is Tuesday. If you need assistance in finding when and where to vote, how to register, about early voting or voting by absentee ballot, go to

http://sos.iowa.gov/elections/voterinformation/voterregistration.html.

' Linda Levey is with the League of Women Voters of Johnson County. Comments: (319) 351-5141