It's that time again - the night before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That means it's Election Eve, and time for me to do my darnedest to encourage you to vote.
This year has been the longest mid-term campaign season I can remember. The political ads started in August for my Congressional district, as well as the surrounding ones, which means during a half-hour of local news, we've been getting probably six minutes of lies and misstatements and misdirection from both sides of the political spectrum. And that doesn't count the Terrorism Update Desk and other right-leaning content from our Sinclair stations. I've let John Katko, my Congressman, know my thoughts on this; he won't listen, I'm sure, bit I feel better.
In my opinion, ads for the Republican incumbents have been much worse than for their Democratic challengers, which is a sad statement on their records, if you ask me. The president, vice president, White House press secretary, first daughter, first son and girlfriend, second son, and even NRA president Ollie North have been in our parts since the summer campaigning for the Congresswoman in the neighboring district. And she's a peach, Claudia Tenney is,having suggested more than once that her opponent would bring the Mafia around if he lost.
The president, for his part, has dragged out every conceivable fear-inducing trope he can think of. Brown-skinned gangs? Check. Job-stealing brown people? Check. Drug-dealing brown people? Check. Free-loading brown people? Check. He did manage to talk about the economy and jobs, but mostly in relation to mobs - that is, #JobsnotMobs - and violence, because if the Dems get elected, mind you, there will be violence. A vote for a Republican - any Republican - is a vote for him he tells us. Good to know.
Here in New York, we're facing a potentially horrible year for a once-popular governor; robocalls for people who lost major party primaries but still have lesser ballot lines, and one of our local districts may mean we end up with a unified government - Dems controlling the Assembly, Governor's Office and the State Senate - assuming the stars align and all. There's some scary stuff in there.
What's it all mean? I'm voting, as I always do. And as I say every year, this is the most important thing any of us can do as citizens -- to have our say in choosing the people who are supposed to represent us.
All elections are important; this one feels more so. Please, do your part.
After some thought, “I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”(1) Actually “The idea of an election is much more interesting to me than the election itself…the act of voting is in itself the defining moment.”(2) And why is it that “When the political columnists say ‘every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘every intelligent voter’ they mean everyone who is going to vote for them”?(3)
We know it’s true that “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who didn’t vote”(4), and that “A citizen of American will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election.”(5) Do we still not realize, after all these years, that “lower voter participation is a silent threat to our democracy… it under-represents young people, the poor, the disabled, those with little education, minorities and you and me”? 6)
After all, “the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men” 7) and “to make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not just observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”(8) And complain we do, after every election, when the wrong guy wins. If only people who actually voted complained, it’d likely be a lot less noisy.
Some folks may not vote because they don’t know how to pick the right person. There are a couple different schools of thought on that. On the one hand, some might think that “politics is the art of the possible” 9) while others may subscribe to the thinking that “politics is not the art of the possible, it consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. And it is true that, the great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter the chance to do something stupid.”(10)
Said another way, a “Vote (is) the instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” 11) But that’s OK – “personally, I believe that our American system works as long as you participate in it. You must vote and make your voice heard; otherwise you will be left out.” 12)
It’s generally true that if you “ask a man which way he’s going to vote and he’ll probably tell you. Ask him, however, why – and vagueness is all.”(13) But voting’s really easy; and “all voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.”(14) And just about everyone likes to play a game every now and then, right?
The bottom line is, “voting is simply a way of determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of fighting;”(15) “voting is a civic sacrament;”(16) and “the future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.”(17) If all of that seems like too much pressure, you have an out: “Vote for the man who promises least. He’ll be the least disappointing.”(18)
Please, vote. It really does matter, this year and every year. If you need information on where to vote, or other assistance, visit Vote411.org or contact your local Board of Elections.
(Thanks to these folks for their words of wisdom: 1 - Charles DeGaulle; 2 – Jeff Melvoin; 3 – Franklin P Adams; 4 and 13 – Andrew Lack; 5 - Bill Vaughan; 6 - Nancy Neuman; 7 - Lyndon B Johnson; 8 - Louis L’Amour; 9 – Otto Von Bismarck; 10 – Art Spander; 11 – Ambrose Bierce; 12 - Mari-Luci Jaramillo; 14 – Henry David Thoreau; 15 – H.L. Mencken; 16—Theodore Hesburgh; 17 – Dwight D. Eisenhower; 18 – Bernard Baruch)
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!