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This past November, for the first time in 30 years,
I missed voting in a major election. I had a stomach
virus and each time I tried to get up to go out
to vote I found my body unwilling to go along. Though
I didn’t make it to the ballot box, being
confined to home I spent the rest of the day and
the one that followed watching the results on television.
I was both surprised and pleased to see the Democratic
Party reclaim control of both houses of the United
States Congress. I was happy with the results and
would like to believe that this is the beginning
of a turn around in the direction that politics
in the United States was taking. My years studying
politics and history, and years of being concerned
and involved in politics, have made me aware that
a change of party control was not going to be enough
to make a significant difference.
I still remember the last time that I did not vote
in a major election. It was the first time I was
able to vote. It was 1976, and having turned eighteen
over the course of the summer I was unable to vote
in the primary and unable to vote for the candidate
that I wanted to be the candidate for the Democratic
Party. Given the choice of major party candidates
that ended up running in November of that year,
I found that I couldn’t bring myself to vote
for either one of them. As far as I was concerned
it was one conservative against another. Though
I considered myself to be a political rebel, a rebel
of the left, I was still a novice political activist.
Being so steeped in the mainstream political tradition
I never thought about voting for a third party.
My principles and knowledge only gave me one choice,
and that choice was to hold back my vote, to not
support a system that I believed provided us with
no real choice.
When asked by my uncle who I voted for, I proudly
said that I was protesting and decided not to vote
at all. My uncle’s immediate response was
to scold me, for how dare I not exercise this right
that so many people fought and died for. He had
a point and in the years to follow I have voted
in every major election since. Yet each time I vote
I often feel a particular sense of dissatisfaction.
Whoever I vote for, I have often felt that it will
not make enough of a difference – that nothing
will fundamentally change. But there were differences
enough to keep me going to the polls - I found myself
voting for the Democrats more often than I wanted,
less because I believed that they would make positive
change but to keep the Republicans from gaining
power. It was voting as a form of damage control.
So why continue voting? There is also another reason
why I vote. Voting at first appears to be an individual
act. It takes place inside a booth, where a person
goes in by oneself and acts according to his or
her own preferences and beliefs. In actuality it
is an act of solidarity, solidarity with a larger
community. The very act of voting for a particular
candidate or proposition connects one with not only
those voting the same way, but with everyone voting,
as well as everyone living in a particular community,
state and nation. It is also an act of faith and
hope. Faith in the institutions of a country, that
in some way they will work, that somehow we will
be heard and can make a difference. It is an act
of hope in the future that is being created as new
representatives take power.
This past November, even though I was unable to
vote, I felt some hope. Hope that Republican control
of power was coming to an end. Hope that as a nation
we would find a new way to deal with the Iraq War,
a new way to deal with terrorism, return to being
an active member of the international community,
and that the issues of global warning, health care
and poverty will begin to be addressed. That hope
though is extremely guarded. I long ago learned
that voting is not enough. Though I came to agree
with my uncle that one should vote, if you really
want to make a difference (and ultimately we all
should) voting is the least we should do. The biggest
changes that have occurred were due to not only
a new group of politicians being elected to office
but because concerned and active people have spoken
out loud and clear.
I admit this is a bit of a simplification, but
would we have had historic civil rights laws without
a strong and vocal civil rights movement? Would
we have had major social legislation without the
commitment and sacrifice of those dedicated to the
labor and union struggles? Even the advent of conservative
rule over the past 25 years was the result of a
strong and growing conservative movement that empowered
their political base. It is the people themselves
who guide the direction the politicians will take.
Though there may now be those in power who are more
sympathetic to social justice and anti-war issues,
how quickly and how far they will go depends on
how effectively we organize and how strongly we
speak out. The only way our nation will move in
a new direction, towards a more responsive and nuanced
form of politics, is if we come together and develop
and pursue new goals and new options.
From what I have witnessed over the last few years,
especially over the last few months, is that the
will and desire to move this nation in a new direction
is continuing to take form. While there are many
efforts taking shape nationwide, one example is
the Coalition for One Voice in New York. Conceived
within the past year as an attempt to form a coalition
of organizations in the area to (as stated in their
mission statement) “consciously connect, strengthen
and support activities that reflect an evolution
of consciousness toward an enlightened society”,
the level of interest and participation it has set
in motion has been inspiring. There are other signs
I have seen as well, coming from conversations I
have had with many people to the organizing of such
groups as the one recently started by someone I
know to come to grips on how we need and can respond
to global warming.
As I found when I participated in an event organized
by the Coalition for One Voice this past October,
people were filled with both hope and fear. Hope
inspired by the coming together of so many like-minded
and committed people looking to make a difference,
and fear that it somehow will not last. Whether
or not it lasts is up to all of us. We can’t
just wait for someone else to do something, to wait
for the politicians we voted for to see the light.
We are the ones that need to show them the way,
to raise the issues, to put the pressure on. We
all need to be out there voting, talking, singing,
marching, thinking and hoping. The obstacles we
face to make a difference, to bring about change,
are immense. The one way we insure that there will
be no change is to do nothing at all. This is the
case whether one is to the left, to the right or
neither. It takes active engagement with each other
and with the society at large. It also takes active
engagement with our own hearts and minds about what
it takes to bring about a just society where we
can figure out how to survive and grow with each
other.
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