Rainbow Coalition Marches in Atlanta

When I was a college student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Jesse Jackson gave a speech in our fieldhouse to several thousand people. It was quite emotional and I found myself getting caught in Mr. Jackson's rhythm, but I found the frenzy annoying.

So, I sat down for a few moments and realized that Mr. Jackson really wasn't saying much. Even more interesting, Jesse would stop mid-sentence and the crowd would roar. They too were simply caught in the rhythm of his speech.

A few months later, I saw Mr. Jackson on Saturday Night Live read Green Eggs and Ham as if it were a political speech and was astounded at the similarity to my own experience in our fieldhouse.

Today, Jesse Jackson is marching in Atlanta to protect voting rights. Is this just more green eggs and ham?

Almost 50% of eligible voters don't even vote. Shouldn't voter turnout be the ultimate issue?

I'm not trying to diminish the importance of civil rights and the right to vote, but the right to vote doesn't mean much if it isn't utilized.

More important, is Mr. Jackson really for voting rights, or just the rights of Democratic voters?

Typically, always voting for a party, either party, leads to incumbency, and incumbency leads to pork-barrel legislation. The crappy energy bill or transportation bill were nothing but pork, but Republicans alone couldn't make either happen, Democrats helped.

Yes, Mr. Jackson, voting rights are important, but if all registered voters simply voted, everything might change. However, if all registered voters, not only voted, but voted against incumbency, everything WOULD change.