Word of the week: ‘right’. Why is it important to vote?
A collaboration between the Dire Agency and Treccani Emporium begins today. From this agreement a column was born: the word of the week
ROME – This week’s word is ‘right’. A collaboration begins today between the Dire Agency and < strong>Treccani Emporium. From this agreement was born, on dire.it and on its channels social, a column: the word of the week. A space for in-depth analysis, a window on the world and on current affairs, starting from the etymological sense of the terms that fill the pages of the dictionary of the Italian language. Words that take shape in everyday life,taking on a meaning that time and their use can change.
THE RIGHT TO VOTE
We live in an era where every citizen of the world claims his rights. The old ones, to always be protected; the new ones, to be approved by the respective institutions. In Europe and in Italy this weekend we will be grappling with one of the fundamental rights of democratic countries: the right to vote. The over 350 million citizens will be called to elect the parliamentarians who will decide the new rules for all the countries of the European Union for the next 5 years.
THE THREAT OF ABSTENTION
This time the threat of abstention looms over the vote which, according to some polling institutes, could exceed 50%. An evil, that of the many who no longer go to vote, which is undermining democracy at its foundation. Becausedemocracy is based on participation, on the conscious vote of the great majority of citizens. When more than half decide to stay at home it means that the rule has been broken, action must be taken immediately.It is a question of civic education. Our Constitutional Charter, in art. 48, establishes that all adult citizens, without distinction of sex, can cast their vote. As mentioned, it is a ‘civic duty’, it is not directly obligatory but every good citizen has the duty to express their choice. If we think about how many countries in the world are governed by non-democratic systems, with citizens who cannot express themselves freely and, when perhaps they are called to put something in the ballot box, many times they can only say okay with the decision already made by the governing clique. The right to vote was won through many struggles, no one gave it away.
HE WHO IS ELECTED DECIDES FOR ALL OF US
Many times it was conquered at the cost of many human lives and sacrifices, of citizens who fought to give each of us the opportunity to choose who to represent us and govern us. It is true that politics, at a transversal level, proves incapable of understanding the needs of voters, it is not up to par. And this translates into a negative opinion, so for many voting is useless, it is of no use.But those who don’t fight, those who decide to abstain, those who don’t vote have already lost from the start . Because then those who are elected, even if the voters are a minority,will still decide for all of us. So we need an act of courage, we need to go and vote, make an effort to look for the best candidate, the one who is personally committed to the issues that are important to us. In the end, all things considered, if our vote were to be ‘betrayed’ by the elected representative, we will still have a natural person to hold accountable.