Why Do People Vote?
Why do people vote? Call it legacy, habit, pride, commitment, or a host of other terms that can be applied to the act of voting.
From time to time, there has been debate in the United States as to whether election day should be a national holiday. In my view, that is absolutely a no brainer, and the answer is not simply a “yes,” but “why not?”
I talked to my daughter who lives in Israel on their election day, October 27th. She described the amazing experience of going to vote in a robust democracy. She and her husband took their kids along to the polling place, which is still done in handwriting, with paper.
My daughter mused to me: “Isn’t magnificent to live in a democracy. I grew up in one, and I am now living in one. We took our kids along so they can understand the importance of voting. I explained to them that they could have been born a woman in Iran or in any one of the other countries around the world, the majority of which do not have free and fair elections.” She then added, “We are lucky to live in a democracy.”
Voting in Israel shows the lies told about Israel worldwide. While France burns, Britain teeters, and the rest of Western Europe struggles to overcome its legacy of failed socialism, Israel welcomes to the polls Jews, a significant Arab population, Druze, Bahiaists, Christians, and many other minorities that most Americans never heard of.
“Driving to the north of Israel, even we were surprised by how many Arab villages there are throughout Israel, and what used to be called the West Bank of Jordan,” Kaila observed. The West Bank of Jordan stretched from the Jordan River to within 4 miles of the Mediterranean Sea.
Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, on the former Jordan West Bank, had an opportunity for democracy thanks to Israel.
Gaza was turned into a terrorist stronghold by Hamas almost overnight after being set on the course of peace by Israel. Mahmoud Abbas, dictator of the Palestinian Authority, put off elections once again. He is a totalitarian despot, ruling an enslaved population.
Nowhere in the Arab world and very few places in the world at large is there any real democracy in the sense that we take for granted in the United States and which is everyday life in Israel.
The voter turnout in Israel is being recorded as one of the highest in the nation’s history. Israel was also at one time a socialist nation which over the last 20 years has corrected its course to a more capitalist society. It has a robust and successful safety net for those who need it.
One of the reasons why Benjamin Netanyahu, who is running for election as a member of the Likud Party, is so popular is because he has been credited with bringing the nation economic success. “It’s the economy stupid,” applies not just in the United States but in every democracy. People typically vote their everyday, day in day out, pocketbook issues. In actuality, that makes a lot of sense. Government should not be a caretaker or an overlord but should create the conditions necessary for people to succeed as individuals in an open market system.
Israel, at one time, was so mired in the bureaucracy of its socialist past that it could barely function. Jobs were scarce, wages were low, and innovation was discouraged. All of that has changed, largely due to Netanyahu and the Likud party. Likud could not have done it alone since Israel has a coalition government. There were other political parties that joined Likud in the effort to change and modernize the country.
Most of the world thinks about Israel only in connection with the war launched by Hamas to murder, kill, maim, and rape Israelis, and the Israeli response. However, the story of Likud is much more than whether it missed the signs of the oncoming Arab barrage and how it responded to the invasion of Israel.
The State of Israel has a real Supreme Court which has justices who obtained their position as a result of input from different branches of government and as suggested by the justices and lawyers themselves. It is an extremely diverse body of justices. Israel has a Muslim Supreme Court Justice and has had Christian, Arab and Druze Supreme Court Justices.
The Knesset, the legislative body, is made up of coalitions. There are way more than two parties. Political parties are formed and dissolved in Israel on a regular basis. Coalitions are formed by different politicians who then create new parties. There is a political party for almost every point of view. Political scientists think that coalition government is a great idea. The United States has opted for a two-party rule, even when it was obvious that the political parties were splintered. It is not so long ago in the past that half of the Democratic Party were White southern segregationists while the north was made up of more liberally inclined folks. Likewise, with the Republic Party which was split between Teddy Roosevelt progressives and the business oriented Taft. That split in the Republican Party has existed to the current day.
The nature of coalition government is that many more voices are aired. The problem with coalition government is that small groups of politicians can be an obstacle to getting anything done. In the United States where do not have coalition government, it seems as though we have just as much gridlock due to the diversity within the two established political parties.
As has been famously said, democracy is the worst form of government, but better than any other. Countries without democracy like China, Russia, and the entirety of the Arab World, tend to be the tail wagging the dog. Their leaders rule until death or revolution and, since they do not care what the people think, long-term policy objectives can be maintained without paying a severe penalty on election day. There is no election day.
The Israeli election is likely to wind up in a tie. Regardless of who gets to form the coalition in Israel, it will be shaky but dedicated to the security needs of the country. The safety net will continue to resemble old fashioned socialism, while encouraging capitalist free enterprise. Jewish people will continue to flee to Israel as a result of rising antisemitism around the world, but minority groups will continue to excel in one of the few countries where they can be free.
It is no exaggeration to say that Muslims in Israel have a much better economically, politically, and in lifestyle than any Arab anywhere in the world. Even the wealthy Arab countries like the tribal Emirates along the Persian Golf are dictatorships. In those countries, there is great wealth for the few and no freedom for the rest.
Israel will continue, as it has for over 3,000 years, to be a beacon of safety, security, and freedom unknown anywhere outside of the United States and a minority of other countries.
