This is totally non-partisan. I want every single person who reads this to vote. I want every single person who reads this to encourage every single person they know to vote. My goal is for this election to be the year that more people voted than ever before. I want every single state to make it easier to vote and to encourage more people to vote.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…that all men are created equal.” If that is not the bedrock of democracy, then “…I am the way and the truth and the life…” is not the bedrock of Christianity. If all people are created equal, that means every single opinion counts as much as the next one. So democracy means that we gather up the consensus of what everybody thinks and we act accordingly. That would be pure democracy.
There are obvious restrictions—I do not think children should vote. After teaching 33 years of high school, I think 18 is a pretty good entry point. But after that, our united goal should be to get everyone to vote who possibly can. If we are more committed to the concept of democracy than we are to our own opinions (“Opinions are like assholes—everybody has one”)—then we want everyone to vote.
I am not naïve—I understand the workings of the electoral college and the concept of gerrymandering and the political benefits of suppressing the vote. All of that flies in the face of democracy…all men are created equal. If you are Neanderthal enough to think “all men” means white male landowners, then this essay is not for you anyway. It means: Your opinion counts as much as mine—let’s vote on it. We need to start living by democratic ideals rather than political scenarios. The first thing it takes to live democratically is to swallow your own ego.
Who should vote? My radical view: if you live here as an adult, you should vote. I want the convict to vote—the system didn’t work for you—vote. I want the immigrant to vote—ideally, you came here to be free—how is freedom working out for you? We have moved beyond gender and race and sexual preference—now we need to move beyond economic status—if you live here, you should have a voice.
How do we get to vote? As easily as possible! This is my concern with my country—I think we are discouraging people to vote. I think we want some votes to count more than others. That is not democracy—all created equal. If we believe that, we should encourage every single person we know to add his or her opinion to the melting pot.
Our voting methods are ridiculous—half on us, half on the system. In my state primary (Super Tuesday, Texas, pre-sheltering), some people had to wait in line six hours to cast a vote! In Wisconsin (yesterday), people were forced to put themselves at risk of contracting the virus in order to vote! Something has gone seriously wrong. My wife and I have early-voted for 16 years, and now we have been turned on to voting by mail (because we are 65). What does age have to do with it? Why can’t everyone vote by mail? Do you realize how democratic democracy would become if we solicited people’s opinions (that’s all a vote is, an opinion)?
As I stated first, this is non-partisan. Most of my friends are old white guys, and most of them support Donald Trump. I want them to vote, and I want them to get as many people as they can to vote. Their opinions matter as much as mine. Trump says that if there was an extremely large voter turn-out, the Republicans wouldn’t stand a chance. Isn’t that an extremely undemocratic thing to say?
To all my get-out-the-vote compadres: we have to figure out the easiest ways to increase voter turn-out and pass it on to everyone we know. In the age of Covid-19, voting by mail is an obvious practical solution. We have to push those in power to agree to it. There is a bill before Congress. Let them know where you stand. The real success of the 2020 election will be measured, not by who won, but by how many voted.
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