How I Became A Lifetime Voter

As the purpose of RickeyPAC is to persuade, even pester voters to get out and vote, I feel I should explain why I think it's so important. How did I become a lifetime voter? For me it came down to three things: example, example, and good fortune.

My parents were regular voters. My dad had fallen under the spell of Barry Goldwater after reading Conscience of a Conservative at an impressionable age. My mom, too, was always at least moderately conservative though it seems to me that she is one of those voters the new and not-so-improved Republican Party has left behind.

The specifics of my parents' political evolution and how it impacted my personal politics is a story for another time. The important thing is, they voted. Even more important, one or the other took me to to the booth with them. We all have things that acquired a mystique when we were kids because adults got to do them and we couldn't, yet. On top of that, throughout my childhood till the time I cast my first vote in the 1990 primaries, Indiana used mechanical voting machines. To a young kid, a mysterious walk-in booth with lots of levers you could move back and forth was about as cool as it got. Of course by 1990 I'd lived through Ronald Reagan and Michael Dukakis's epic defeat in the 1988 presidential election, so a lot of the romance was gone. But it didn't matter. The pattern was set. I was finally getting to vote.

My second example was my senior year government teacher, Mr. Catanzarite. He was a great teacher, a small quiet man who was so impossibly gentle you'd never think of acting up because you couldn't imagine doing that to him. Mr. Catanzarite was absolutely passionate about something else besides teaching: that his 18 year-old seniors were registered to vote. I know he did get a number of my fellow students signed up, and I'd like to think he made a difference with kids whose parents weren't as regular in their voting habits as mine were. What a great example.

And finally, there was good fortune. As I was getting ready to leave Indiana for Vermont in 1990 to start my freshman year at college, I read a newspaper article about this guy running for Congress there, a self-described socialist, former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, who had a real shot at being the first independent member of the House in decades. To my pleasure, this man--Bernie Sanders--was scheduled to speak during freshman week. I fell in love, politically speaking. I switched my registration to Vermont so I could help send Sanders to the House. It is and will always remain the vote of which I am most proud of casting.

As I prepare to vote early in Texas, I will proudly take my son to the booth with me. Parents, take your kids. Make them see voting as something to look forward to when they're old enough. If you don't have a child, take a niece, nephew, godchild or neighbor kid (get parental permission first, we don't want you getting in trouble) to vote with you. If you're a high school teacher or volunteer, encourage your 18 year-olds to vote. Though it's probably too late to register them this year (unless your state has same-day registration), it's never too early to start planning for 2012.

Finally, find a candidate you're passionate about and support them. It doesn't have to be for president or Congress; it may be for a city or county position. Those offices are just as important and impact us more directly than the "sexier" federal or state races.

Above all, get involved!