By FULLER ROYAL

It’s an election year. It’s not the big election year with a governorship and a presidency at stake, but it’s an election year nonetheless.

Except for a couple of local non-office votes, I have never missed voting. I have always considered it a right, a privilege and a duty.

And I know that my vote counts, at least on the local level where several recent races were decided by only a handful of votes.

But, I will be honest. It’s getting to the point where it seems I am voting for the lesser of two evils each year in more and more races at every level.

That’s a shame.

It’s politics as usual.

While I do belong to one party, I certainly don’t subscribe to every belief of my party nor do I believe every candidate from my party is the best.

I can safely say that my voting record for each year reflects a nearly 50-50 or 60-40 split between Republican and Democrat candidates in the partisan races.

As a youngster coming up through the schools I was taught in my history classes about the importance of compromise – a handy tool to create legislation.

Compromise is all but lost on today’s crop of politicians.

I consider myself a moderate. I see the good on both sides of the aisle. But that’s not a popular road to take in today’s climate of extremism.

It looks like all sense of civility is gone, especially in Washington where it’s a “them or us” attitude.

I have grown weary of the extreme lefts and the extreme rights. None of them debate. They shout. None of them listen. Both sides practice spin, cover-up and knee jerking.

What I have found is that when people lean so much to one side or the other, they are usually unhappy with their own lots in life.

Since we no longer have the Russians to blame for everything that goes wrong, political extremists on both sides like to say that the “other party” is to blame for their own miserable lives.

Is it any wonder that fewer and fewer people vote?

It’s amazing how one side of the aisle can see no wrong in its party leaders and no right in the opposition’s.

All candidates are capable of great good and all candidates are capable of underhandedness.
Actually, I am most fond of Washington and Raleigh when they are in stalemates. I like it when Congress is from one party and the president is from another.

What I have found to be true is that both parties have made it more difficult for me to raise my family, more difficult for me to start and maintain my business, more difficult for my children to receive a good education, more difficult for me to save for and plan for my children’s college and, lastly, more difficult for me to respect our national and state governments.

On that last note, local governing bodies are quickly approaching similar states of reprehension.

But I will vote this year because it is my privilege, my right and my duty. And again, I will vote the lesser of the two evils in many of the races.

And with that said, at least I do vote. To those of you who don’t vote – shame on you.

To those of you who do not vote I will say this – you have no right to complain about your government. You have no right to complain about taxes, Iraq, terrorism, water districts, highways and trash pickup.

In fact, if you and I are talking politics and I find out that you don’t vote, then, the conversation is over.

Non-voters should consider this. When you don’t cast a vote, then you have acquiesced your approval for whoever wins.

That’s right. By not voting for any opposition to a candidate, you, through sloth and indifference, helped put someone in office.

So, if you don’t like the president, the governor, the senators, the congressmen, the mayors or the county commissioners – and you didn’t vote – then you helped put them there.

Now, get off your butts and go register.