VOTERS CAN SAVE DEMOCRACY. |
What warped writing team would have concocted a story line in which a maniacal demagogue converts an ordinary political party into a destructive, mindless cult? Or dream up a TV “news” network that could hypnotize half the country into believing The Leader’s lies? In what science-fiction romp would six Supreme Court justices snatch away a 50-year right like abortion and turn women into breeders? Or, just weeks after teenage gunmen slaughtered shoppers at a supermarket or massacred fourth graders near their last day of school, would have those same justices make it easier for other angry teenagers to get guns and turn them on the rest of us? |
The Real Clear Politics website projects Republican will end up with at least 220 seats in the House of Representatives – more than half the chamber’s 435 seats. As to the Senate, the site predicts Democrats will probably keep 46 seats, compared to 47 for Republicans – with seven races judged a toss up.
A Republican sweep does not have to happen.
There are plenty of Democrats, enough Republicans of good will and lots of sensible Independents who can make a difference on Nov. 8.
So what keeps so many of us on the fence, at home, on the couch?
Why won’t voters – enough voters – take a moment or two to make a difference?
Why is there so much indifference to something so vital?
How can you and I be convinced to play the hero, come to the rescue of our country and preserve a way of life that can flourish only a democracy?
Voting is so easy.
And so hard.
FWIW, it was never 50 percent of the country, more like a third. And that number has been shrinking. This WaPo piece from May shows the decline even before the devastating J6 hearings:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/24/donald-trump-seems-to-be-losing-his-grip-gop-republican-party/
On previous trips from RI to NC, Trump signs sprouted like dandelions; last week we saw barely any.
But none of that answers why anybody would embrace such horrendous values, and it's clear way too many do. I can't answer why so many don't vote, it's utterly inexplicable to me. Such a simple thing to do, yet our lethargy and indifference has ceded the field to the lunatics, at least for the primaries.
Can we change this? Yes. If enough of us do something, anything, to turn the tide. Donate, register, volunteer. It seems feeble but it's what we got. They don't have a huge advantage over us. They don't have an advantage at all, WE do. We just have to use our muscle, and refuse to be discouraged. They want us to lose hope.
In reality, Trump will fade from the scene, though greed, racism, apathy and arrogance will clearly still be with us. On the up side, some unknown number of people will be so disgusted with what they learn this summer that they will stay home in November, while others will be motivated to turn against the GOP. The Roe decision will have an impact; the GOP judges have overreached. This fight is not over.🤞🏼
Four million Americans turn 18 each year becoming eligible to vote. Not all will vote Democratic of course, but continuing policies that allow school shootings with such frequency should be a motivator. North of 60-70 percent say the want gun limits not judicial permission to carry concealed weapons in bars and subways.
Half the country are women, who poll at 2-to-1 as outraged by the abortion. If they vote, the results will speak
In Republican primaries this year, voters have selected more than 100 candidates who still insist despite these Jan 6 sessions that the 2020 election was rigged
Where these people vote and how they vote and whether the breathtaking takeaway of individual rights motivates people is as important as getting off the couch
Terry
Terry,
We've taken to displaying the Rhode Island state flag because of its embedded slogan "Hope." It is both aspirational and wishful.
Brian
When I go to a store or order online, I get what I want. Almost always.
When I vote I don't always get what I want. For some reason, the people who deliver government stuff seem to have to pay attention to other people.
When I'm told by the store or online that what I want is very expensive, I have the choice not to buy... I can go somewhere elsewhere... I get upset when it's something like gasoline and if there aren't any places selling it cheaper. But for most things I'm pretty satisfied with what I buy and accept the price.
When I buy government service, that is, pay taxes, I'm not sure what I'm buying and it's always too expensive, and I have no choice. I gotta pay.
So as a consumer of government services -- and we all think of ourselves in this economic society as consumers -- I'm always an unhappy consumer.
Unless I have the maturity to think of myself as a citizen. That's beyond a lot of us. Right and Left. So we don't vote.
People's lives depend on democracy vs. dictatorships. And you don't get to change your mind. later I don't think the problem is so much consumerism as it is indifference and laziness.
One of the cliches is that "we get the government we deserve." It's wrong, because "we" is overbroad, even though I use it all the time. "We" are in the hands of other voters.
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I'VE BEEN a reporter and writer for 58 years, long enough to have learned that journalists don't know very much, although I've met some smart ones.
Mainly, what reporters know comes from asking other people questions and fretting about the answers. This blog is a successor to one inspired by our dog, Phoebe, who was smart, sweet and the antithesis of Donald Trump. She died Feb. 3, and I don't see getting over that very soon. Occasionally, I may try to reach her via cell phone. |
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