As one who rather proselytizes about voting, I’ve heard the gamut of answers when I urge people to vote. “It makes no difference if I vote or not.” “Don’t vote; it only encourages them.” One otherwise bright fellow said to me that he was apolitical, a “citizen of the world” … as if he could be both of those things simultaneously. Not in my world.

I regret that there have been elections in my life in which I could have voted but did not. In the enthusiasm of my youth, I always voted. In the desperation of my past 25 years, from about Reagan forward, I’ve always voted. What happened in between I cannot explain. Even then, I voted in major federal elections. But I can’t help wondering if matters would be better if a lot of people like me, people who slacked off voting for part of their lives, had gone to the polls every time they were eligible.

BTW, if you live in Harris County, TX, I can and will register you to vote, no matter what your political views or party affiliation. C’mon, Houstonians, what have you got to lose? Especially compared to what you’ll lose if you and a lot of others don’t vote, what have you got to lose?

People just don’t care, and we are all paying the price.

I still think we ought to sell tickets to vote; people would line up for miles.