Voting is privilege other countries don’t have

I am a history buff. Every time I vote, I think of America's veterans of war and the rights that those men and women procured for the rest of us. Were it not for them, we would have been citizens of a British autocracy for a long time or would have to say “Hail the Führer” or “Banzai” to stay alive.

Voting is a privilege that most of the world today does not have and would gladly deny to us if they could. When I am in a voting booth, I see in my mind's eye that militia at Lexington and Concord, the heroes of New Orleans and Gettysburg, the grapplers for Guadalcanal and Bastogne, and yes, even the heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan. They gave me the right to help choose the leaders of the United States and I thank God for them daily.

Steven W. Bristow

Cedar Rapids