By Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer, AmericaSpeaks

In less than one week the mid-term elections will take place.

The profound dysfunction of our electoral politics is in full display, whether it be:

The evidence of the immediate impact of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which reintroduced completely nontransparent corporate campaign donations.  These corporate donors have given millions to spend in this election cycle.  It is not uncommon to hear people talking about the buying and selling of elections today.

Or the constant barrage of negative campaign ads.  Last week, I spoke with a citizen in New Mexico who echoed what I have heard many times in the last few weeks about that state’s race for governor. “It saddens me greatly to see two excellent public servants degrading themselves and each other in all these negative ads. I can’t stand to watch them anymore.”

Or the tired campaign tactics to frighten voters, whether it’s the left’s “Don’t Touch Social Security” or the right’s “No New Taxes?”  Anyone who is paying attention to the country’s debt and long-term deficit crisis knows that to face this challenge we will have to both reduce entitlement spending and increase taxes.

All of these factors and more lead many people to decry the system, throw up their hands, and ask “Why should I bother to vote?”

To that question we must all have a strong and clear answer:  low voter turn out is exactly what people who are trying to manipulate elections want to happen.

We saw the highest level of voter engagement in decades in the 2008 Presidential election. Many people have forgotten that this was not only a Democratic phenomenon.  John McCain received almost 60 million votes.  People wanted to take back their democracy, whoever their preferred candidate.

Given the challenging events of the last two years: current unemployment rates, increasing numbers of home foreclosures and the continued slowness of the recovery it is not surprising that millions of Americans are anxious, angry and frustrated with what they see as business as usual in Washington.

But now would be exactly the wrong time to decide not to vote.  I hope that you will join me in committing not only to vote, but also to engage 10 people who are planning not to vote.  Listen very carefully to their reasons and see if you can inspire them to go to the polls on November 2nd.  The only way that people have more power than money in politics today is if we continue to vote in very large numbers.