Armenian Reporter:

Vote!

Published: Friday October 31, 2008

Let's recall why four polls taken the same week often show four different outcomes. Four pollsters can ask the same 1,000 people the same question and get the same answers, but publish very different numbers. That's because they have to predict just how many of those 1,000 people will actually take the trouble to vote.

The pollsters know that a citizen may be registered to vote, may have chosen whom to support, may intend to vote, but might well not actually cast his or her ballot. Each pollster has a formula for predicting behavior, and that helps explain the different numbers.

Thus opinion polling gives us valuable information. But it is far from infallible. If you think your preferred candidate will win with or without your vote, think again. If enough people think like you, your candidate will lose.

And does that really matter? We believe it does.

The stakes are high

We do not harbor the illusion that a single election will change everything that's wrong with U.S. federal policy - and maintain everything that's right about it. The changes we want will require ongoing, well-planned and coordinated hard work - which is what we advocate.

But we do know this: a failure to change course in America will lead us straight into the abyss.

Last year we saw the vigor with which the Bush administration fought our efforts to acknowledge a tragic chapter in Armenian and world history and a proud chapter in the history of the United States and American diplomacy: the Armenian Genocide, the efforts of American diplomats to save Armenian lives, and the benevolence of the American people toward the "starving Armenians" decades ago.

The passion with which the administration pursued the wrong course was stunning.

In recent weeks we see the emergence of another ill-advised anti-Armenian policy.

As a key mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the United States had in the past refrained from prejudging the outcome of the negotiations; with the help of the mediators, the parties to the conflict were expected to find the balance between respecting the principle of maintaining the territorial integrity of states and respecting the undeniable right of the people of Karabakh to determine their own destiny.

Lately, however, in discussing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Vice President Cheney, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza have taken to stating that the starting point must be the "territorial integrity" of Azerbaijan. When pressed by the Armenian Reporter on October 18, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried acknowledged, "There are other principles, such as self-determination."

This new anti-Armenian tilt was developed by the Bush administration's political appointees in the State Department, people whose substantial influence is likely to grow if the Republican Party were to retain the White House. Mr. Negroponte, for example, is often named as a possible secretary of state in a McCain administration.

Senator Barack Obama, on the other hand, stated in January, "I will promote Armenian security by seeking an end to the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades, and by working for a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America's founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination."

This commitment is consistent with the record of Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden in the Senate.

In our endorsement of Barack Obama and Joe Biden for president and vice president (October 4), we discussed why we believed they are the right choice for us as Americans and as Armenian-Americans.

But it is not enough to make a choice and to support candidates for office.

You have to actually cast a ballot. Do it.

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Rhode Island State House. Wikimedia

Rhode Island House supports NKR recognition

On May 17, RI state representatives passed a resolution calling on the U.S. Government to formally recognize the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the NKR Office in the United States reported.