You Have to Participate to Enact Change
Your Senator Call Script
Here’s your packet for calling your Senators about the judicial nomination process. I have a bunch of information in it - please read at your leisure and prepare to call these offices as soon as THIS WEEK (9/21/2020).
I also have a bit of a rant because - ya know, feelings. Please know this is not necessary to read for the packet above. Just really want to drive home why participation is important in our election process, our representative government, and how each individual needs to be a participant.
I’m not forcing you to do anything - but I am forcing you to take a look at why inaction continues to be dangerous and why protest votes won’t change a system.
Because when you don’t have a seat at the table - you are what’s for dinner.
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[Enter Rant]
Yes I know, we are less than 45 days out from the US election, and you are as apathetic and beatdown as ever. 2020 has been rough. These past 4 years have been rough. Hell, for most people my age (thirty-goddamn-two), it’s been a rough go of it - period.
Just because I am interested in politics and can talk about it every damn day of my life, doesn't mean I don’t feel the same way. This is a tug of war - a battle of stamina more than anything else.
As I have encouraged in each political talk and each GSD - work is never done with an election. Right NOW is a great time to use that voice to ensure a proper, full-fledged judicial nomination process after RBG’s passing (see above).
We can complain ALL DAY about how a system is unfair, broken, and corrupt - but as long as you do not actively participate in it (voting), advocate for change (calling your rep, supporting a growing bench of new candidates, run yourself), or work EVERY YEAR for your causes - you will not see the change you are looking for.
You need to participate to enact change.
You NEED to participate to ENACT change.
If you have done nothing so far, of course, that doesn’t matter - you’re not affecting anything. Twitter doesn’t affect the election. Turnout does. Sorry, not sorry for the harsh truth.
So my main question is to the people who don’t want to commit to voting - why are you choosing to lose? Because you are.
I’m not telling you to buck the fuck up and take it - I’m reiterating that these things take time, investment, and patience. You are allowed to be critical of a system that feels like it is failing you. You are allowed to ask for something different. And you are allowed to advocate for a better system. But that is a hell of a lot harder to do any of that when you are outside the structure itself - driven by principles of uninvolvement.
There is a reason why older generations are listened to more often - they vote consistently and are the base of the political systems at large. Voters between the ages of 18-35 back for the 2016 election rivaled the eligible voter numbers of the Boomer generation. But we are a fraction of the voting power per election, and continue to be some of the hardest hit in terms of policy creation. You could wait for all Boomers and the Silent Generation to die so you don’t have to worry about fighting against them or dealing with the candidates they prefer - but is alllll that time sitting in inaction worth that?
So again and I now rephrase, why are you choosing to be a loser in a system where we don’t have to be?
Think of it in terms of a company: why would anyone ever listen to someone who doesn’t buy their product? They aren’t going to be the audience they need to cater to make a profit, so they’re not going to want to change anything in order to attract customers who are inconsistent or non-buyers.
Protests work, don’t get me wrong. But with political systems, the people who control the vote are the ones who call the shots as to where a party moves. Example: the Tea Party in the wake of the 2008 election results. Moderate and centrist candidates were pushed out for more politically extreme conservative candidates. Who SWEPT incumbent candidates and swung a huge majority in 2010 - forever shifting the baseline of the party.
And the harsh truth (again, sorry not sorry) why this hasn’t happened on the Democrat side is because the hard leftists and identified liberals DON’T VOTE. They can’t organize enough to control a swell of voters, so it still remains that more moderate candidates and corporate dem policies control the larger voting sphere. Opinion Think Piece. There is also a criticism in there about camp in-fighting and that the umbrella for Democratic Party politics is TOO big to survive - but that’s a different rant.
If we were to become organized enough, we can organize to flip a system and hold it by its proverbial balls to do what we want next.
AND I KNOW THAT WE CAN.
We just have to “do it”. Millennials, Gen Z, Young Gen X.
We quite amazingly have the numbers - we just have to commit to voting even if it stinks. Even if we don’t have a perfect match in candidates. Because once our age group of 18-35 goes from 17% turnout (like seriously, what the actual fuck) in a midterm election to 35% turnout - we can swing our sledgehammer of change in every direction.
And please know that I am not calling YOU out. I am calling out an entire generation of non-committed or inconsistent voters. And even still, this is not all on you - the party and leadership need to listen too. And they will when our participation matters - when we are influencing the decisions people make instead of letting others decide for us.
Let’s get into some quick points to finish my various trains of thought and bring it home with some good news, okay?
CASE STUDY EXAMPLE
There are minority groups in this country who have been MORE THAN PATIENT with less than par candidates to their own existences in this country - who still show up and vote. Consistently. In larger groups than young people for elections. There are reasons why they have special candidate considerations, caucuses, and organizational power. Because their groups have been seen as influential to election turnouts with consistent powers to persuade results.
If you want to see that for someone like you, you have to show the influence you have. And that isn’t social media reach. It’s results and turnout.
LARGE CRITICISM REBUTTAL
“There aren’t any good candidates for me.”
No one is a perfect candidate. Please stop waiting for one.
This is the same for any expectations you have in life - movies, games, jobs, stores, clothing, restaurants, dates. None of these are inherently perfect - but there are ones who are close to satisfying what you need. You want them to be better? You leave them a constructive review and ask for the next one to be better and include what else you want to see.
Nothing will work to be better if you DON’T TELL THEM what they need to do to win your confidence. And how you tell candidates this and parties - is by voting.
And also, run yourself or encourage a willing friend to start running for a position. You want to see more of YOU out there, make the bench your starting ground. Once you have influence as a group, you start calling the shots on what candidate makes it farther and helping shape the platform for the party. We have seen this almost exclusively in the rise of gay rights in the Democratic Party platform. This is an influence in action WITH action from you.
How many candidates had to start appealing to more progressive policies? When they saw them get traction with new voting groups and candidates (see Bernie & Yang).
WHY DO WE FEEL POWERLESS IN ACTION BUT NOT POWERLESS IN VOICE?
How many of us have explained what cis is to someone we know? How many of us were on the front lines for explaining Black Lives Matter, or why gay marriage is marriage and a fundamental right, or why eco-friendly policies are a must from corporations?
How many of us take so much effort to explain our stances, our opinions, or existences and why they matter? We have very little reservation in telling people who we are, how we live, and encourage individual autonomy and power.
Why can’t that energy be transferred over to voting?
Why settle for bills passed in community advocate’s names who died when we could push to have more varied representation in who votes for that bill and build up benches with increasingly sympathetic voices?
If identity is so important to who we are and who we represent - why does that stop at advocating for OUR candidate based representation?
I know we have budding candidates all over the country showing their stuff in local elections - barely making it by because they run too far to the left of the overall moderate party. They could have used your vote in your local election.
I know there are millions of people who are waiting for a reason to start voting and it will take more work from all of us to show that what we do matters. Maybe they need to see someone like them be there instead of someone who only partially knows what it’s like to be in their shoes.
There is a point where fighting a system is futile. But I do not believe for a second when we have the population numbers, the gumption, and the transparency to bullshit that we do that we truly feel inaction in terms of a performative protest is still moving us positively forward.
I refuse to accept that as a legitimate strategy anymore. If 100,000 people in a state have the same mentality as an inactive voter, that could swing a ton of elections - regardless of the electoral college.
While personal autonomy is incredibly sacred and I cherish people doing what they feel is right - if we can call out our uncles and aunts for being silent on police crime, but choose to put potentially targeted groups at risk from unfair policies put forth by representatives we can choose to have in office - don’t we have an obligation to do our part to avoid that? To advocate against that outcome? To at least try to put in leaders and representatives that would not do harm?
Furthermore, I genuinely want to call for anyone to reconsider sitting out of an election and the democratic process because of jaded feelings and being worn down. If you are not there to advocate for YOU, why do you expect others to do the same?
I GET IT
I know 2020 is a shitstorm and with each passing day it seems futile and worthless to fight.
And I am telling you, fighting for something is not going to be a one and done deal. Change is hard because you are not going to see it right away, and systems will work against you to hold onto any semblance of influence.
Compromise and collaboration is necessary for change. But not complacency.
Your voice matters and you should encourage others to move with you to be the larger swell.
Nothing is ever too far gone from becoming better.
We CAN do that. We have the practice in our vocal advocacy - we just have to apply it to something that we don’t normally see as necessary. I argue - that it is necessary as saying my heritage, my life experiences, and my sexuality out loud. To be heard, normalized, and understood.
And hey, here’s the upside! 2018 saw record numbers of voters turn out to cast ballots and I can’t wait for that to continue. (Source) It is nearly impossible to deny that people are waking up and there is an increased call to action. As someone who has been in the thick of political elections since 2006, even actively working in government/elections from 2012-2015, I know there is a sense of obligation that has not existed… well in any year I have participated in elections.
I want this to be a call to listen to that feeling of obligation instead of feeling like your voice doesn’t matter. It does. And compounded over entire states, and as an entire generation, I hope and swear to any deity that you see the power you have.
INSPIRATION IS A SEED OF CHANGE.
And my job is to reinforce that you can be critical of a system and that participating in it does not make you an agent against change. It makes you an agent for the change you know needs to happen, within it and pervasively at every level. We are not changing who controls power from one generation to the next, we are changing the face of power and how that dynamic relates to everyone. Because we are more empathetic than any other age group that I know of to the trials of our fellow Americans, no - world citizens.
Our snowflake sensibility is not a weakness. Selflessness is not a weakness. Understanding is not a weakness. Refusal to be complacent is not a weakness. Not being mainstream isn’t a weakness. We’re DEFINING the next stages of power and we are not selfish enough to want it for ourselves. We are constantly thinking of how it affects us, the generation before, and the generations after. We worry to the point of obsession or avoidance. We talk about what we can’t take on rather than say empty promises that we will.
Because we try so hard to not be the disappointment or the sadness we have seen or that we are used to from systems that should champion our needs.
We have sat through economic bailouts, TWO unprecedented economic crises, a pandemic, a fabricated war, a national disaster on our school televisions, and years of criticism for being too selfish of a generation and destroying the known systems of comfort for others.
We’re seen as obstinate, bullish with our ideals, and headstrong. And I say fuck yes to that.
But we also avoid problems and while we know what place we want to have - we don’t feel worthy to take it.
We need to take this.
We are worthy of making the world we deserve NOT for us - but for the people we worry about.
We are worthy to advocate for ourselves as that affects the people we worry about too.
You are your best and ONLY advocate.
Stop waiting for people to do the right thing and do what you expect of them.
Instead, be your vote for change.
Be someone else’s hope it will come.
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PS. And lastly, I can bring it from philosophy and back to something tangible. Guess who has the power to turn over Citizens United? The United States Supreme Court.
So unless you want corporations to gain more control in election systems and potentially affect other facets of American life with special interest money - this is important to advocate for your opinion to your representatives.
