Voting Helps Your Karma
I woke up thinking about Karma and voting. Voting helps your Karma. At the most basic level there is heredity, environment, and Karma.
Too many western people think that eastern belief systems promote a lackadaisical attitude and behavior because the path is set due to past action. It is true that moral causation lies at the heart of Buddhist understanding but the path we walk is one we ourselves create.
I began thinking about Thich Naht Hahn, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, long exiled to France, who Dr. King nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. If you are at all curious about Buddhism, or want to explore a variant distinct from the Tibetan Buddhism of the Dali Lama that is the best known branch of the Eastern Religion in Occidental mainstream culture, the Plum Village site may prove to be an enlightening place to browse. 
Nothing is written in stone but there are consequences to actions. These consequences can play out over eons. Think of it as a cosmic butterfly effect where a small change at the beginning of a process has huge influence on outcome.
This is how I think about voting. Each vote is a minor action but it can have huge impact on the lives of the voters and lives well beyond the voters. How is it possible to have the ability to register your input on a process and then say, “Nah, I am not going to participate in a process that will have impact throughout my life and those of my descendants?”
It is such an easy way to walk a path of good action. Of course it is even better if your vote is well researched and your votes on individual people and courses of action reflect votes for what will help, enable, and better the lives of others.
Please go vote if you have not already done so!
One of the things I did set out to change and successfully did change in my husband was his commitment to voting. I grew up in a house where I couldn’t come home on election day until I had my “I voted” sticker. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a politically apathetic home. Tonight, as we do on every election evening, we will go to the polls together. Yes, we could mail in our ballots, but I like the symbolism of the process.
Your upbringing sounds like mine. I was so proud when my daughter wanted to go to the polls as a family her first time voting.
Lois, I will be interested in what he thinks.
I did vote. I remember way back when in college. My roommate’s brother was running for student body Vice President. A girl came into our room and asked my roommate if she had voted yet. She got real quiet. We all yelled that she had to go vote for her brother. She raced up there at the last minute — and I swear, he won by one vote. A small example, but one vote does count.
My House Representative race is now at a 35 vote difference in our election! Voting matters.