I know you just read the headline and I’m sure a lot of you are thinking, “What? This new guy is a little unhinged.” But, let me
explain.

Yesterday was Super Tuesday and the Mississippi primary is right around the corner on March 12, so stressing the importance of voting has been on my mind – and trust me when I say that can be a chaotic place. Things usually come out of the ole noggin in a somewhat orderly fashion, but there’s typically a lot rattling around up there. And that’s how we get to the book of Revelation.

You see, the world is a pretty scary place right now. And as I thought about all of the things the leaders our votes will eventually put in place will have to deal with, my mind drifted to what’s happening in the Middle East. I thought of how, if you are a religious person, it certainly feels like something John may have seen when he wrote the Bible’s final book. Armageddon aside,
what’s happening between Israel, Hamas, and the Palestinian people is both terrifying and devastating to watch. And I’m no expert, but I don’t see it going away anytime soon. The same can be said for the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. But we have a say in how this gets handled.

And I really don’t have to tell you there is plenty going on right here at home. As if we hadn’t seen plenty of debate over reproductive rights in the last few years, Alabama opened a new door on the issue in 2024 with its ruling concerning IVF treatment. While that argument alone is enough to keep us occupied, there is so much more to hash out related to so many important issues. It can be overwhelming. And we have a say in how these things get handled as well.

I’m sure you are noticing the trend here, but it’s true. There’s so much happening and it’s all so important; and there’s so much information; and it’s so hard to tell what’s true and false; right or wrong; and….whew. It piles up so quickly, it’s easy to feel like throwing your hands in the air and saying “Forget it! What good is one voice anyway?” But, please don’t do that. One voice matters; one vote matters.

Those pile up too, you see.

And then there’s the argument that Americans either don’t care, or are just too preoccupied to get out and make a difference where the big issues are concerned. In the novel “1984” George Orwell wrote about the people of the fictional nation of Oceania, “They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality; because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening.” He went on to later write, “They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind.”

What Orwell was saying is, in essence, what people often say about us, or even what one generation of Americans might say about another. But, I don’t believe it to be true. Americans care, and we care deeply. I could go on and on about how that caring manifests itself differently depending on the generation, but the point is that whether we are demonstrating in the streets or showing up to a city council meeting, Americans know what’s going on and they have a lot to say about it. And Tuesday is our opportunity to have our say in Mississippi’s primary.

And it isn’t just a right we have; it’s a duty. So, let’s get out there and do our part. I know it may seem dramatic, but sacrificing your lunch hour to cast a ballot might end up meaning everything to someone you’ve never met.

It matters, folks. It matters a lot.

Blake Bell is the general manager and executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at blake.bell@vicksburgpost.com.