In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” Think about those few words, words which should motivate all voters, especially the forgotten voters of Kentucky, the voters who are marginalized because politicians rarely take the time to meet with them and consider their needs. Kentucky’s forgotten voters should adopt a rallying cry from World War I, “Wake Up, America,” with “Wake Up, Kentucky."
A rhetorical question which all Kentucky voters should consider, especially voters in rural Kentucky, is whether the people we are voting for are committed to serving the people. So often, those running for office are only interested in the power which comes with the position. These candidates surround themselves with a small circle of friends, friends who expect to be rewarded when their candidate is elected. These candidates spend thousands of dollars attacking their opponents and spend even more money on consultants to make themselves look as if they are a candidate for a beauty contest, not a political office.
Maybe, just maybe, candidates for political office should spend less time marching in festivals, or visiting businesses that write them checks to fund their campaigns, and more time meeting with the hundreds of forgotten voters, forgotten faces who for so long have not had a chance to be heard by those politicians who will disappear the morning after the election.
Let us consider one of those forgotten voters, a forgotten face who struggles each day to put food on the table, keep the lights on in his home, and gas in his car, or just simply to survive from day to day. Consider Greg, his wife and three children, as the faces of one of those forgotten families. Greg is a retired coal miner whose family survives on a small disability, a disability that does not provide enough so most months there is not enough food to feed his family. Greg is dying from black lung, and has been waiting years to have his black lung claim approved by an insurance company that has fought him for years, a company that is likely trying to outwait Greg knowing that if he dies before his claim is approved, there will be more money available to pay their executives higher wages. Greg is one of those forgotten voters, forgotten faces, who will never be heard in Frankfort or Washington, DC, because Greg and his family just do not count, and will never have a chance to have their voices heard.
There are hundreds of other forgotten voters, forgotten faces, like Greg and his family, who struggle every day in Kentucky, and across America, just to survive. So often, politicians who are only interested in their next election, their next position, will say something like, “these people just need to get a job.” It is time to ask these heartless politicians exactly where these faceless forgotten faces can find jobs when the places where they live do not have any jobs, oftentimes because of policies implemented by politicians who have never taken the time to listen.
It is time for politicians who want the votes of the forgotten, faceless voters, to begin to listen. Better yet, it is time for these politicians to begin debating their opponents at town hall meetings. Debates which will give a voice to the forgotten faces of Kentucky and America. In the words of Orson Wells, “Popularity should be no scale for the election of politicians. If it would depend on popularity, Donald Duck and the Muppets would take seats in senate.” Orson Wells had it right, it is time to end the days of voting for more Donald Duck or Muppets politicians.
So, in the end, the forgotten voters, the forgotten faces of the mountains and rural Kentucky, should consider the words of Abraham Lincoln when he said, “Elections belong to the people.” It is time for the forgotten voters, the forgotten faces to take back our elections and demand politicians who are willing to listen, learn, and adopt the new rallying cry of the forgotten voters, the forgotten faces, “WAKE UP, KENTUCKY.”
