This is US focused but the principle of being involved in local issues is universal to all democracies.
Can I rant for a minute?
Why does every thread about voting devolve into removed about the flaws of the Electoral College?
Fun fact: the Electoral College only pertains to the Presidency and there’s almost nothing you can do about that directly.
Think local, that’s where you can make a difference. Your local school board has the power to either support students or drive them to suicide. Local races frequently turn on a handful of votes.
So go ahead, sit out the election because the choices for president stink. I humbly submit that your superior moral stance may not be based on very firm principles. That trans kid down the block didn’t need your help anyway. /s
As the parent of “that trans kid down the block,” every election is important. Every single one.
I’m concerned that your post might be taken as encouragement to vote locally while abstaining from the presidential vote, which I hope wasn’t your goal, because we haven’t had a normal presidential election cycle in the last 12 years. Remember True The Vote? Those anti-democracy assholes started actively interfering in elections in 2010, and their ideas, if not their organization, have taken over the entire Republican party.
And we now have a Supreme Court that seems primed to make Donald Trump into a king. It’s an existential threat to the entire country at all levels. If he wins, it’s quite possible elections at all levels won’t matter anymore. Democracy will have been killed.
Think local, but definitely vote national, too. However you feel about Biden (who’s easily been the most progressive president of my life if you look at his actual record), fucking vote for him. So my trans kid’s health care and rights aren’t threatened by the bloated orange shit-gibbon.
I understand you and no, my goal isn’t to get people to focus only local. However, I definitely feel the over-emphasis on presidential politics hurts in both areas, local and Federal. The federal situation is very discouraging due to the not-invalid gripes about the electoral college. I really just want to shift the conversation away from the over-emphasis on how our votes are diluted so unfairly at the highest level.
If one spends all their emotional energy arguing about the presidential election, there’s little left over for the equally important local issues. In fact, I would argue that the way to directly address the flaws of the electoral college in the long run is to focus on getting more people involved locally. That’s how you build a movement. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but fixing this crappy situation is a generations-worth of effort.
My intent is a sort of emotional aikido, I guess? Emotions are so high about the presidential and I think the disinformation campaigns exploit that by exhausting people on the big picture issues an individual can do little about.
Very well said, and I see nothing I disagree with. Thank you for the clarification, and you’re absolutely right: This is a generational journey we’re on, and we have to be able to see the little steps along the way so we don’t despair about ever reaching the goal.
Thank you for your comment, and special thanks for engaging in good faith.
One thing I have learned from getting a bit more involved is that there are more people of good faith than being online too much would lead you to believe.
When you get involved locally, you can actually feel some reward for your efforts. Multiply my puny efforts by the literally millions of people who might agree with my general sentiments and then suddenly, we might get the changes we need so desperately .