Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, I am thinking about my Dad, who served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. His ship was the U.S.S. St. Paul, which fired the last salvo of the war. His older brothers -- James and Jack -- served in the U.S. Army. All three brothers made it home safely. All three now rest in peace.

I never served. So, what I think whenever I see veterans is, "They outrank me." They risked far more than I ever could. All I can do is be grateful and make the most of what they have given us.

In 1776, the Founding Fathers told an English king what needed to be said:

• All men are created equal.
• All men have a right to Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

We now understand those words need to include "all people" but the point is that those words would not have been worth the parchment they were written on without a military to back them up. "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately," Benjamin Franklin said.

The fledgeling U.S. Army and Navy made the words of the Declaration of Independence come to life.  That's what they did for the Founding Fathers. What the Founding Fathers did for those soldiers and sailors was to give them something worth fighting for.

For more than 200 years, our military fought for democracy. The least we can do is use this gift. "Earn this."

Some facts about the 2016 election:

• Only 58 percent of registered voters -- 139 million out of 232 million eligible voters -- cast a ballot.
• About 93 million of registered voters did not vote.
• About a quarter of the people who could be registered were not.
• 62 million voted for Donald Trump.
• 65 million voted for Hillary Clinton.
• Total vote for president: 127 million (many who voted did not bother voting for president)
• The population of the U.S. is about 326 million.  About 74 million of those are children. So, about 252 million of those are adults. This means, according to my rough math, about 125 million people sat on the sidelines.

Aside from any political preference, that statistic is what I cannot stomach. This is what our military fought and died for through how many wars?  125 million is more than the population of the United States in 1932.

My point is this: Register to vote ... and then vote. I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat, Socialist, Libertarian, Conservative, Green or even Whig. Engage in the political process. But do it respectfully. When you encounter someone who disagrees with you, say to yourself, "Hooray, democracy works." If you lived in a country where everyone "agreed," you'd be in trouble.

Don't expect to win every argument, but if everyone participates and votes we can at least know that the election results truly do reflect the majority of the people. I could live with that.

That is what our veterans fought and died for.

Check on your voter registration status:

https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/votersearch.aspx

Register to vote through the DMV:

https://voterreg.dmv.ny.gov/MotorVoter/