Next Tuesday is an election day in Boston, but if you think that citizens will flock to the polls to exercise their right to vote, think again. While America has lost now more than 1,000 of our young men and women in the war to bring democracy to Iraq, a number that figures to be higher still before that country unveils its first-ever free election sometime next year, those of us who remain back home are expected to stay away in droves from our own polling places, even to the point of record low turnouts in most neighborhoods.

Is this what we have become, a country without a soul? Or is it just that democracy means not just the right to vote, but the guarantee that we're free to not vote? Think of it: If just 20 percent of registered voters take the trouble to vote, the electoral choices reside in a small, skewered handful of citizens to choose elected officials. For every 10 among us, the deciding choice is left to just two.

The fault is not entirely with the citizenry: There are few choices offered in next week's primary elections. Next Tuesday, voters will nominate a member of Congress, a state senator, a state representative, all local incumbents running without opponents. The only contest will be a partisan election for sheriff, a contest between an incumbent who was appointed, not elected, and a city councillor who will be on his fourth election ballot in four years. And the winner will promptly vanish from the electoral process for the next six years!

The voter malaise extends even to the national election, where each day seems to bring new revelations of strange utterings and mean-spirited attacks, one candidate to another. It was simply astonishing to hear Vice President Dick Cheney this week quietly make the case that, if the President is not re-elected, the chances increase of another terror attack on America. Talk about fear-mongering and hateful diatribes.

Fact is, the Republican strategy nationally seems to be a simple doomsday approach: vote for us, else we're all doomed. How sad that it's sunk to this level.

- Ed Forry

Play Ball!

The summer's gone, and now the fun can begin.

How is it that September, more than New Year's Day, signals the real start of a new beginning for most of us?

A fresh start for students at school, a new football season for the Patriots, even a new run towards post-season glory for long-suffering Red Sox fans. Even as the days grow short and the temperatures fall low, hope springs eternal as this new season begins.

September, too, signals the start of a new year for local neighborhood groups and civic associations. After some quiet evenings over the summer, church halls and other gathering spots spring into action, as Dorchester's many local groups begin again their meetings.

There's even a report that, after a hiatus of some 30 months of inactivity, the Dorchester Lower Mills civic group may be about to regather to deal with issues in that neighborhood. How welcome its return will be.

-E.F.