The New Voters Project would like to thank Ramsey Tesdell for his words of encouragement for our organization’s efforts of voter registration.

We think that voting is a crucial first step in making democracy happen. It may seem insignificant, but it is perhaps the greatest of our liberties, for it is part of free speech and freedom of expression. We are picking and choosing our representatives to be our voices when they debate laws. As they do this, they have us on their minds — their constituents.

The “symphony of democracy” his friend described is a great analogy. We are an individual component of a greater sound. That sound is the embracement of a liberty our Founding Fathers felt our republic needed in order to survive. Voting is the core of our government and its laws. Young people need to have a voice in those decisions. It starts with voting.

But Ramsey is right — there is more to democracy than voting. This is why we have been working with a coalition of interested student groups, faculty and administrators to develop the Cultivating Democracy working group at Iowa State.

Registering to vote and voting is the first important step in cultivating democracy at Iowa State. The next steps are getting involved with our community, advocating important issues and developing as citizens.

Keep an eye out for Cultivating Democracy activities at Iowa State in the coming weeks and check out www.stuorg.iastate.edu/cultivatingdemocracy to look at our campus Web site.

Mansoor Khadir

Events/Administrative Coordinator

New Voters Project