I almost voted today. I did the waiting in the queue thing, and discovered I didn't have all the documents that I needed. The queue was long... so the fact that I didn't is my fault entirely. It was great to see... the line was long and kept refilling with people wanting to caste their vote.
It is an interesting thing voting. You know your individual vote means very little. In a country like South Africa with one very dominant party, it also feels like it has no effect whatsoever, and yet we do it. It feels good to believe in change. It feels good to believe you can have an impact. Even if individually you can't.
But that's the thing. More so than ever, we can actually have an impact as individuals. I am not convinced that we can do so politically. Swaying more than 50% of any one countries population to believe the way you do is always going to be tough and full of compromises.
If we get to the stage where we agree on the basic laws and rules of the game... and people follow them, then getting people to agree with you on other things is less important.
Democracy is empowering in that it gives everyone the vote. But it is also disempowering in that it feels like it only gives power to the majority, and disempowers minorities.
But... I hope that over time, the role of government gets smaller and smaller, and a real enfranchisement through reduced barriers takes place. Enfranchisement that allows people to live where they would like to live, spend time with the people they want to spend time with, and if they put the effort in, do something they enjoy doing... all without fear.
I don't think political will does this. I think it comes down to sweat of hard work, creative thinking and a real desire to improve things. It comes down to just getting on with it.
That said... I felt proud to be South African today.
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