What is wrong. What we can do to fix it.

I have always been civic minded. I vote in every election, even the local ones. I work hard to be an informed citizen, reading the ballot measures, researching the judges, and getting to know both sides of arguments, but after this election I truly lost faith in this experiment we call the United States of America, and here is why:

Apathy

People don’t show up. The United States has some of the worst voter turnout for elections compared to nearly any other country in the world. In Australia, voting is compulsory. Many countries have federal holidays for voting. Here, we don’t bother. We have election day on a Tuesday and everything is still open.

I have friends who told me specifically “my vote doesn’t matter.” This couldn’t be farther from the truth. When you don’t vote you are giving your vote to someone who disagrees with you who bothers to show up and vote.

Mob rule

People are constantly to pass laws that discourage voting with the attitude that only the educated should vote. These are the same sorts of people that started the Eugenics movement and how the Nazi party gained momentum and was able to execute so many Jews, and others, during the holocaust in World War II. If we are to turn around this failed experiment, we need to encourage voting not discourage it.

Gerrymandering

No one is innocent here. This is the most ugly way that our republic is hijacked every 10 years after the census. John Oliver explains it very well in his Last Week Tonight segment. This should never have become a thing in our republic and is only getting worse. This will occur again for the 2020 election and could directly affect the outcome of the presidential election again.

Lack of Participation

People are not only not showing up but they are letting others show up and voting for them because there is only one candidate on the ballot.” No one should ever run unopposed. This is how fundamentalist groups get hold in the political arena. They run for the unopposed seats and get in where no one notices the things you do.

What I am doing about it:

I happen to live in a city that is considered to be highly conservative given that there are four military bases, a mega church, and a religious organization that focuses on political action. But that doesn’t represent the entire city. And to lump all the military into one conservative bucket does a disservice to all those who serve our country.

My house is located just outside the city limits, so, much of the day-to-day decisions made by the city government, that impact my life, I can’t vote on, or even voice my opinion to the city council. So, I am selling my house and moving into the city. Yes, that means that I have to pay higher property taxes, and pay a bit more when I have appliances delivered to my home, but it also means I have a say in my government and a say in what impacts my life.

What you can do about it:

Show up!

Take the time to vote. Take the time to read up on the candidates. No one candidate is going to tick all your boxes. But, who is going to do the best job for the majority of the citizens. Not just the one that panders to the majority then does what they want, once they get into office. Do your research! I know we are all too busy in our lives to look up every judge and candidate. That is what they are counting on to get elected. That we will be stupid enough to just vote down party lines despite what they have done in the past. Some of these people have criminal records!

Stay active!

Don’t just trust that those elected officials are doing the job you hired them to do. Show up to City Council meetings. Contact your State and local representatives and hold them accountable for everything. Don’t let them have closed door sessions. Don’t let the Fire Chief propose business killing stupid ordinances to city council without public notification. Don’t wait for the local news or newspapers to report things AFTER things happen.

Say something!

We don’t have to agree. We don’t have to be on the same side of an argument. The point is to have the conversation. Perhaps you can reason me to your side or vice versa. I am willing to listen if you are willing to talk to me and not call me an idiot for not thinking as you do. I hope you would afford me the same courtesy.

Participate!

We are all responsible for this failed experiment. Our unwillingness to give. To die on this one hill. On this one principle. On this one thought. This is why we are so divided these days. There is common ground. If we just show up and stop yelling. If we could get our egos and our deities out of the room for a bit, I bet we could find some reasonable solutions.

I grew up learning about the settlers and how this country came to be. I know how we came to practice our own form of intolerance through the application of the Puritan ideals blended with concepts of the Enlightenment where all men (white males with 50 acres of land) have the right to self-determination. All while pushing the native people out after they helped many of the original settlers survive their first winters.

While I believe strongly in many of the concepts that the founders set forth, I also understand that we started this country on some very flawed footing that we need to acknowledge and address. Our grand experiment has some wonderful ideas, but unless we find some common ground again we are destined for a split.

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