By Randi Rossi -
April 6 may have been the most important local elections in decades because so many people have suffered so much because of really bad politicians. Yet in Lake County Illinois, only 13% of registered voters bothered to do their civic duty and vote! The worst suffering is centered on our 55 million school age children that were kicked out of school for almost an entire year for no good reason. The CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics, and other scientific sources have told us for months that children must get back to school ASAP and keeping them out of school causes life long academic, social, and psychological damage. Ten times more school age kids have died from suicide than Covid. 3 times more have died from the annual flu. The odds of a kid 19 and younger surviving Covid is 99.9978%! Yet local school boards agreed to shut down our schools and cause massive suffering for our kids either out of ignorance or to curry favor with the Teacher’s Unions. And our kids have suffered enormously because of that.
Anybody who does their civic duty to stay informed can get the scientific data that says that kids should get back to school ASAP and there is virtually zero risk to them or their teachers in sending them to school. Yet kids stayed at home for almost 12 months and are just now starting to go back to school. Every informed parent should have voted in this election to fire the school boards that let this happen. They should have voted to kick out those local politicians that supported closing down our businesses which caused massive unnecessary pain and suffering. Those states that had the wisdom to keep their schools and businesses open (Florida and Texas) had less Covid deaths as a percent of the population than those that shut down schools and businesses and caused massive unnecessary pain and suffering (New York and California).
The solution to this tragedy is simple and in the hands of voters. They can vote out the “bad guys” and vote in the “good guys”. But that can’t work if only 13% of the voters bother to do their duty. As Pericles said, “Any citizen that doesn’t pay attention to politics has no right to live in Athens”! And as Plato said “If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under fools”. Like the fools that shut down our schools and caused massive unnecessary damage to our innocent kids. As Thomas Jefferson said, “The government you elect is the government that you deserve”. Sadly when 87% of the voters don’t bother to go out and do their civic duty by voting, then we deserve a bad government. Tragically, it is our children and grandchildren who will be stuck with the mess we are leaving them because of the apathy of 87% of all voters today.