From The Desk Of Tim Easton: Voting

Tim Easton has been singing and writing songs since he was 14 years old. He never considered another career. After finishing college, Easton hit the road with his guitar and spent seven years singing and playing on European street corners. When he got back to Ohio, Easton joined the Haynes Boys, a roots-rock outfit that made one album before breaking up. Free again, Easton picked up his guitar and returned to the road, touching down long enough to make nine albums that earned him a loyal following with their blend of gritty roots-rock and heartfelt songwriting. Every LP took a slightly different approach and his latest, Not Cool, shows off his love of rockabilly and early R&B. Easton will be quest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.

Easton: Every time I hear that statistic about how only 50{e5d2c082e45b5ce38ac2ea5f0bdedb3901cc97dfa4ea5e625fd79a7c2dc9f191} of the population (in the States) actually votes, it just gets my blood boiling. I can rant with the best of them when it comes to conspiracy theories and how the government is inept and whatnot, but it just drives me batty that only half of us actually vote. Because of that sad fact, it stands to reason that around a quarter of us actually voted for the president, for example. That’s just ridiculous, and it begs to wonder if the Australian way of fining people who don’t participate isn’t the way to go. I know, I know, we are who we are and we don’t like people telling us not to smoke in restaurants or not walk around with a loaded gun all the time, but for the love of freedom can we not just register to vote? While you’re at it, get your lazy-ass friends to do the same. I truly believe this action could stall the complete downfall of our nation for at least another generation or two, because, let’s face it, they don’t get much work done in the capital now do they? Across the world over, millions have died for this right, yet we just carry on with our self-centered ways, not really giving a damn about how good we actually have it. It is also my belief that if every North American could visit the Third World, they might wake up a bit. Our corruption is so stealthy that it tucks right between the 6 o’clock news and a commercial, and the next thing you know you just don’t even react anymore.

Don’t spectate, participate.