Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends, if you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.
Right after the election in November 2016, one despairing father wrote this to his far-flung family:
I am heartsick about the short term future of America and those it touches and serves. But I also believe that the future of democratic ideals and the arc of justice are bigger than one person. I will not let that person bring me down. We’re all left with choices about dealing with adversity. We are going to expand our physical, spiritual and intellectual borders and we will stand tall.
And this is how a wise son (about to become a father himself) responded:
I really wanted to greet her with a world that was improving on its modest gains of the past 8 years, rather than struggling to defend them… but perhaps, as with Obama and racism, Clinton’s election would have only veiled misogyny, misinformation and bias the public needs to address or see dwindle away with demographic change. There’s a lot of hope to be taken out of the tolerance and potential of the younger generation. We’ll be defining the nation by the time she’s ready to go out on her own.
His daughter is not nearly ready to go out on her own, but the nation-defining the son contemplated and hoped for is going on right now. The Prime Minister of France talks to Congress and raises whether we intend to display any global leadership. Do we? The new tax law’s true impact on deficits becomes clear. Rather than considering the poor, House Speaker Paul Ryan fires the chaplain who prayed that the poor be remembered. Who will we remember tomorrow?
Even worse, in Donald Trump’s presidency, the “misogyny, misinformation and bias” are on full display every day. And every day, we contest the mean-spiritedness and the indifference to all others that is Trump’s hallmark. Every day, someone is mocked or eviscerated or lied about or dismissed. If they had been offered a hand up, it is withdrawn. If they or their children had received protection, it is removed, To Donald Trump, the 9,000 Nepalese in America losing their protected status, transgendered members of the military, and Honduran refugees caravanning and now seeking asylum are all the same person, the other.
Who would have thought that the dreams and soul of a nation would be the predominant prize of an off-year election? Has there been an election in your life that you have looked forward to more, that is worthier of your continual engagement from now to November 6? With a blue wave on that day, we will regain the House, put the Senate in play, and start to redefine who we are as a people. All that in one day.
Right now, special Congressional elections are showing a huge swing back in our direction. Let’s not get to November 7 and regret that we didn’t take full advantage. Let’s not wish we had worked a little harder, or closed ranks more tightly after the primaries. Most of all, let’s not forget our biggest advantage - the enthusiasm gap, which gained us our recent election victories in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
That’s where the rest of the son’s letter comes in: There’s a lot of hope to be taken out of the tolerance and potential of the younger generation. There is no more important part of the highly possible but not inevitable November blue wave than which persons 18-35 choose to register and which persons 18-35 choose to vote.
Think about this. These youngish persons are more disapproving of Trump than any other age cohort. They are more conscious of individual freedoms, more at home in our pluralistic America, more focused on the rights of LGQBT soldiers, more wary of trade wars, and more conscious of the wealth mal-distribution of the tax bill. However, of all age cohorts, they are the least likely to register to vote and the least likely to choose to vote after they register. Whether or not we are ourselves 18-35, what can we do to elevate and swell these glorious hopes for tolerance? Here are three things:
| 1) Take the Time to Rock the Vote | |
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There are any number of online efforts to significantly increase voter registration, but none any more aggressive and expansive and relentless than Rock the Vote, which has helped to register millions of people. If you could magically get them into the heads of thousands of people, especially people who are new to the voting process, that would be excellent. And collectively you can - Rock the Vote has any number of tools, including state by state analysis of what one needs to do to register and vote, and a guide to how to overcome barriers that vote-suppressing states have erected. They have partnerships with a number of national brands and are seeking more. Most importantly, Rock the Vote has two uncommon tools for you to advance today. First are the links to the online registration sites of 38 states and the District of Columbia. You can use that link everywhere. If you aren’t necessarily youngish yourself, email, tweet or text it to the ten youngest potential voters you know and ask them to pass it on. Send it to college students you know. Add it to your email signature for all your emails until the election. Make it the subject of a Facebook post, if you and that company are not estranged. You can also expand this movement by finding organizations who are interested in adding to their websites a “white label” customized version of the Rock the Vote online platform. Here’s how they sign up. |
2) Intensify Registration Efforts in Arizona |
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There is no state where the Latino vote looms larger than in Arizona. Democrat Krysten Sinema is leading in the polls for the election that will replace the retiring Jeff Flake. Ultimately, there will be a vacancy in the John McCain seat as well, as he considers retirement. The governor’s race is in play, and the 2nd district Congressional seat is open, and thus is a prime take back opportunity. Luckily there is an excellent coalition in Arizona called One America that has taken on the assignment of making sure that Latino voters are not only registered, but are civically engaged. Among the coalition members is Mi Familia Vota, which many resisters have supported. Any contribution we can make to this movement today with count in November. |
3) Sharpen Your Role in Getting Out the Vote |
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Voter registration is just the start. Not to bring up a sore point, but there were enough people registered for us to win in November 2016. In key parts of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, we were not able to generate the voter enthusiasm and turnout levels that we had achieved in November of 2012. As we eventually move our efforts to convincing primary and general election registered voters to vote, it’s good to develop and apply some standards to the campaigns, party organizations or even Indivisible cells who are hosting these efforts. There is a hierarchy of effectiveness to get out the vote efforts and we can help made sure we have the highest impact. Front porch, phone or email requests that reach out to random voters and just stress the civic duty of voting aren’t going to get it done. Wherever we can, we need to convince voters that are likely to be with us that they can be part of an extraordinary blue wave. Researchers say that the fear of a low turnout is much less likely to elicit a strong turnout than the prospect of a high turnout. As veteran campaigners know, the rest of the story is in the targeting. Campaigns which may end up being flooded by volunteers and thus might send them into the field unguided need to be cured of those practices. There is a case to be made for sweeping through strong Democratic precincts, but in every other place, we must find out from these campaigns and organizations what kind of list preparation is in the works. Insist now on the use of records of voter frequency, and the ongoing identification of people who may end up in our camp. That will help us get far better results from our get out the vote efforts. |
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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