I’ve heard some strains of misguided disengagement from politics, like Cedric Humphrey’s question to Joe Biden in the October 15 public forum about young Black Americans who might choose not to vote because they view voting as “participation in a system that continually fails to protect them.” Joe Biden opened with exactly the right answer, from John Lewis:
Well, I’d say first of all, as my buddy John Lewis said, “It’s a sacred opportunity, the right to vote. You can make a difference.” If young Black women and men vote, you can determine the outcome of this election. Not a joke. You can do that [Vice-President Joe Biden, response to question, ABC public forum, as transcribed by Rev.com, 2020.10.15].
The democratic system responds to those who participate. If you don’t vote, if you don’t speak up, if you don’t fill out your Census form, the system doesn’t know you exist. It doesn’t feel the pressure of your rightful demands. Democracy doesn’t move by itself; it only moves by the people who get out and push.
Now I know, that’s easy for me to say. I’m a member of the privileged majority class. Even when I don’t push (although I’m here pushing every morning), there are lots of other people pushing in my direction and recognizing my membership in the Columbus club. The cops and courts and economy don’t conspire to exclude and oppress me in nearly the same concerted, systematic way that they do to knock down Black and Indian otherwise non-Ward Cleaver Americans.
It’s thus a lot easier for minority Americans to look at a Presidential choice between two old financially secure white men and wonder why they should bother voting or how they’ll ever get a fair hearing from two men so far removed from their identities and interests (but read Uncle Joe’s response in last night’s debate to the questions about racial justice, to his understanding of “The Talk” and pollution-plagued fence line neighborhoods, and you’ll see there is a big difference between Biden, who cares about you and understands that your skin color does make your life harder, and Trump, whose only comment about Black Lives Matter is that the movement wants to fry cops).
But remember: if you want change at the top, you have to build support from the bottom. If you want Blacker, browner, redder candidates winning high office and pulling the system toward justice for your family and your neighborhood, you have to work in every election to put people in every office who share your focus on justice and participation for all.
If you want racial justice, you can’t wait for the perfect, most radical racial justice warrior to magically win the nomination for the Presidency. That won’t happen: the only national election we have will always winnow the radicals out of the field and give us moderates to pick from (Trump is an anomaly, and he’s not a radical; he’s just selfish bastard). Making great change at the top requires showing up at every election for decades and making real change in all those offices at the bottom, building a machine of school board members, city councilors, mayors, district attorneys, county commissioners, and state legislators who add their little pulls toward justice in every small decision and expand the bench of influencers who will create more momentum for more radical doers of justice and mercy in campaigns for higher and higher office.
Young minority voters appear to be getting that message in Los Angeles, where they are getting fired up about replacing Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey with more progressive George Gascon:
FLORIDO: Melina Abdullah is a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter LA chapter. She says organizing some of BLM’s supporters to vote has taken work. Many of the movement’s young, progressive core activists are disillusioned with their options for the White House.
MELINA ABDULLAH: But it’s important that we be aware of everything that’s on the ballot. And the role of the district attorney is huge.
FLORIDO: The district attorney decides whether to prosecute police, she tells people, and how aggressively to go after low-level offenders. When she puts it that way, she says…
ABDULLAH: We are met with much less resistance. And in fact, a lot of our younger and more radical organizers are enthusiastic about going to the ballot box, even if it’s only to vote her out [Adrian Florido, “Black Lives Matter Activists Push to Vote Out Los Angeles Prosecutor,” NPR: All Things Considered, 2020.10.21].
Local prosecutor elections don’t get nearly as much press as Presidential elections. But those local races are the first step to creating the justice you seek in your local community and strengthening the foundation of justice all the way up through the great nation you want America to be.
I was basically thinking the same thing phrased differently: If the “Progressives” don’t get exactly what they want like spoiled children, they’ll pout, stay on the couch and allow a would-be dictator to stay in office. They are almost as dangerous as Trump but he is the more immediate threat to the republic. It’s Deja vu from four years ago but at least this time the leftist media isn’t arrogant and stupid enough to keep saying it’s in the bag. If Trump wins it will once again be the fault of the regressives.
happy, Trump being president is not the fault of the GOP? How about the Senate’s choice to enable rather than check this monster?
I think you take the kernel of truth in how progressives staying on the sideline, waiting for their perfect candidate, helped elect this President, but you take it a bit too far into extreme Pontius Pilate territory with washing your hands and laying all the blame on them for the mess the GOP/Conservatives’s man has made.
Great post, Cory. Voting is a powerful thing. When I turned 18, I had to register for the draft, but I had no vote. A childhood friend and several classmates were in Vietnam risking their lives. They couldn’t vote. People 18-20 would get the vote two years later. Our slogan was “old enough to die, old enough to vote.” Young people have a lot at stake in this election. I hope they show up.
Two of my children have disabilities and they exercise their right to vote. In fact, if they hadn’t of voted by mail during this general election, they would have walked thru any kind of weather to their polling places on Nov. 3rd.
My point is too few people with disabilities exercise their rights and advocate strongly for themselves. Too many let others make their decisions for them. I get aggravated when I hear parents of an adult with disabilities aren’t going to allow their child to vote because “my child won’t understand”. You may very well be surprised how much your loved one actually comprehends if given the chance!
Thanks for posting that Jivin —- I feel the same way. The town I live in has a team that encourages and helps disabled people to try to vote. I have seen them in action when my mother was in the nursing home. They do great work.
The Roger Cornelius Memorial Cartoon by Marty Two Bulls.
https://www.gocomics.com/m2bulls/2020/10/22
This is a good and valuable post. You’ve got to participate to build movement toward what you want!
I’ve worked with disabled people and encouraged them to vote if they had the mental capacity. Some do not. Many are excited to vote, but some don’t.
Me and Mary Jane thought we made a post, but we guess we might have been mistaken,
“The democratic system responds to those who participate. If you don’t vote, if you don’t speak up, if you don’t fill out your Census form, the system doesn’t know you exist. It doesn’t feel the pressure of your rightful demands. Democracy doesn’t move by itself; it only moves by the people who get out and push.”
True enough but there are a number of folks that would prefer that the system not know they exist. In my opinion the reality is, the vast majority is, way to complacent and and wound up in the dogma that is partisan politics. Oh Well s**t happens, have a nice weekend.
Mr. H is righter than right.
Although he may not realize some of the ways he is discriminated against on a daily basis.
Get your butts out and vote, people. And do not vote for Mr. Trump. Vote Jo Jorgensen!
Happy: this time “the leftist media isn’t arrogant and stupid enough to keep saying it’s in the bag.”
Reality:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html
The Upshot’s elections model suggests that Hillary Clinton is favored to win the presidency, based on the latest state and national polls.A victory by Mr. Trump remains possible:
Mrs. Clinton has an 85% chance to win….
http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2016/10/18/presidential-forecast-updates/newsletter.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2016/10/18/presidential-forecast-updates/newsletter.html
Oct 18, 2016Tuesday, October 18, 2016. Hillary Clinton has a 91% chance to win….
Leftist? Arrogant? Stupid?
If it wasn’t for the media you spurn there would be no way of knowing. Anything.
Btw Fox News is predicting Trump has a 91% chance of winning.
Fox News-where up is down!
Knute, thank your kids for doing their duty. Their dedication is a model for all voters who would let overcomable obstacles deter them from voting.
Blame for the Trump regime rests first and foremost on the Republicans who nominated him, curried his favor, and refused to remove him from office for his high crimes and misdemeanors.
Blame for Trump’s harms rests second and fivemost ;-) on all who chose not to vote for an alternative in 2016 and who make excuses not to vote to remove Trump from office right now.
Grudz, I hope what I don’t notice won’t hurt me. If you see any discriminators, be sure to set them straight.
One of the challenges with voting is that it doesn’t produce immediate results. You cast a ballot, you wait for results, and often your guy doesn’t win. You don’t see the impact that a close race may have on driving the other side toward compromise or encouraging your guy or the next gal to campaign even harder next time to win instead of retiring from politics and taking a quiet and comfortable university job.
Even when your guy wins, he doesn’t take office and start kicking butt for a couple months. He’s only one official, and he has to work hard and compromise to get new laws passed, and those laws don’t kick in and fix every ill right away.
Voting is like wearing a mask: you can’t guarantee what you’re doing will improve your life, and you may not see any tangible results the moment you do it, but every vote, like every mask, makes a little difference. They add up. If everyone does it, the power adds up, and things turn out better.
Yes, Trump is also the fault and shame of the GOP. We have not learned enough about Classical Liberasim, the founding basis of the country as explained by John Locke, John Stuart Mills, and others. If we were properly schooled the vast majority would accept and appreciate governance by the majority.