This
is an essay about politics.
But
it’s not.
I
will explain. Let’s meander along the path of the not part first.
There
are no names here. No candidates. No insults. No screaming or
cheers.
There
are no Democrats and no Republicans. No political parties at all.
No Conservatives or Liberals. No us or them. No them or us.
There
is nothing complicated involved. Nothing deeply detailed or requiring
a massive investment of time.
This
is not politics to explain what you should or shouldn’t believe.
This is not politics to tell you how to feel. This is not politics
to tell you right from wrong.
We
are not getting into specifics in any of those ways.
Instead,
it’s politics for those of you that think we deserve better. It’s
politics for those of you that think our government needs to change.
It’s politics only from the concept of taking a first step or
two.
We’re
going to do it with three easy ideas. But first… a question.
Why
now?
(Good
question.)
The
next major national election day will be November 6, 2018. And
you in case you didn’t realize it, say because you are still dealing
with a politics overdose, we are barely more than 500 days from
that event.
The
United States will look to vote on the entire House of Representatives
and a third of the Senate. (And actually, it looks like 2018 is
the bonus Senate year, with thirty-four of the one hundred seats
being contested. Just over a third.)
A
vast majority of states will select their Governors. With “vast
amount” meaning just shy of eighty percent.
So
again… why now? Because if we don’t start now, by the time we
do it once again will be too late. If you want more… if you want
improvements… if you want something with a difference… now is
the time.
None
of this is swinging for the fences stuff. I’m not going tell you
anything is broken (or not broken). I’m not looking at overhauling
the system.
Just
basics.
First
steps.
Ready?
Step
number one – Pay attention
Who
did you vote for in 2016?
No…
no… not for President, Senator, or Representative.
I’m
asking about judges, school boards, ballot measures and more.
And I’m, not asking to actually get any names or specifics. (Remember…
politics without politics.)
I’m
asking about all of the names and all of the issues you were asked
to vote on when you stepped into a booth or were handed a sheet.
Were you prepared to make your selections? For everything? I’m
asking because I wonder if at some moment you looked at the choices
and options and possibly thought to yourself: “Didn’t know I’d
be voting for a judge. I suppose I should pick one. I just hope
I don’t choose a jackass.”
In
some states, candidates are listed multiple times as the representative
for different parties. (That’s a fun one to sort out if you actually
care about not only the candidate, but which part they are representing.)
So
many people go in ready to vote for President and national leadership,
and yet it’s the state and local offices that can have a more
immediate impact upon a voter’s daily life. And yet, ha ha, many
voters have zero clue about some of the people and positions on
the ballot.
Ok.
Fine. Let’s step back from the idea of understanding all of the
items on a ballot. Here’s an attempt to streamline the idea.
Name
your Governor. Name the two U.S. Senators from your state. Do
you know where you live? (And for that, when the local news station
is scrolling results along the bottom of your television screen:
Will you recognize your voting district?)
If
an issue came up and the action required was “I need to call my
Congressman”, would you know the name of the person you were going
to call without having to make your first action an attempt to
find out who your Congressman is?
I
don’t need the answers. That part doesn’t matter to me. You’ll
know whether or not you could provide the correct information.
But if you don’t know the name of your Mayor and Governor and
so on, that’s a fairly good indicator of your awareness of the
political landscape.
Step
number two – Do a little homework
The
two major words in politics should be accountability and responsibility.
For the actions of candidates in office… and, yes, for the voters
electing them.
If
you don’t know the candidates on the ballot… if you don’t know
an answer when you are being asked how the state should invest
significant amounts of money… then follow that through to the
end result.
Supposedly,
an individual gets elected and becomes responsible for representing
you and the interests of those around you. Might be nice to know
who that is.
Whatever
might be important to you—medical coverage, national security,
cost of living, the postal service—find out where the candidates
stand on specific issues. Quite honestly, no candidate is perfect.
Not one. But if (1) Candidate A says they will have to raise taxes,
(2) you don’t want your taxes raised, and (3) you vote for Candidate
A, then long before you get upset that your taxes are being raised
there should have been a reason or two you ignored the warning
signs when casting your vote.
Yup.
You’re going to need to invest some time. Sorry. But it’s really
not a tremendous amount of time. And if you are going to put a
blindfold on before throwing your darts instead, you shouldn’t
be surprised to take your blindfold off and see the darts all
missed the board and damaged the wall.
Step
number three – Vote
As
a rough statement, forty percent of eligible voters don’t vote.
It
changes depending on a variety of circumstances, the candidates,
the type of election (Presidential year, etc.), and so on. But
for the most part, two out of five voters stay away.
Most
places allow voting for a fairly wide range of hours, and obtaining
an absentee ballot is far from an impossible task. The point being:
while for a few people it is possible that professional or personal
obligations may take on a priority and prevent a person from voting,
it’s kind of hard to believe that ninety million voters end up
working overtime on a Tuesday every four years.
Ok…
know what you’re voting on, know what matters to you, and vote.
VERY simple and straightforward. Perhaps, just perhaps, too simple
and straightforward. But something is troubling me…
The
accountability and responsibility I mentioned begins with us.
We have the right to vote, and it’s up to each of us to use that
right. A step beyond that is the idea that an informed and prepared
voter is likely to make stronger decisions.
My
argument is that we need easy places to begin, we need to make
the first moves, and these three are not unrealistic in any way.
Whether
or not anyone actually moves forward and tries them remains to
be seen. But I guarantee you that we are closing in on what will
yet again be labeled the biggest election in our history, with
candidates none of us could possibly have expected to be seemingly
such poor options, playing election games that no one believes
could really work the way they do.
Could
it be better? Yes. Better is what we all deserve. All you need
to do is get started.