Vote For Our Future

Throughout the country, Republicans are working to keep Americans from voting - or having their votes counted. When they’re not taking legal action to stop voters, they’re nurturing cynicism and even denial of the integrity of the voting process.

Democrats have put up tremendous fights all over the country to protect voters. But they haven’t made voting a major issue in the next couple of months.   They must.

From cancelling voter registrations, placing partisans in key electoral positions, gerrymandering, denying people on voting lines food and water, and doing whatever else they can to make voting as difficult as possible, Republicans have made clear their contempt for voters and their rights.

Republican efforts have already disenfranchised thousands.  More will be. Not surprisingly, the vast majority are Black and Hispanic. They continually spew the specious claim that Democrats want huge influxes of illegal immigrants to swell their party registration rolls. It’s utter bullshit, but even people who should know better, like Elon Musk, repeat this canard endlessly on social media.

Perhaps even more frightening is the concerted Republican campaign to undermine trust in our elections. It’s a simple enough premise; if they lose, the election must be rigged. Trump has even made this claim against his own party.

Bottom line: Republicans are terrified of likely Democratic voters costing them the election.   They could be right - if Republican's are successful, they could eliminate enough voters in key states to swing the election to Donald Trump.

Democrats - not necessarily the top of the ticket - should immediately engage in a massive campaign of civic education. Remind the public, especially in battleground states, of the importance of the vote. Quote our founding fathers. Quote great poltical leaders of both parties. Make Americans proud of our right to express our will at the ballot box. Emphasize that American men and women in our military fought and died to protect that sacred right. Evoke the civil rights era, especially among Black voters and Trump voters who are offended at the very idea that they might be racist.

Address the cynics and the sanctimonious and the obtuse who claim not to see a difference in the candidates and the parties. Make them feel guilty or stupid if necessary. But it’s better, of course, to appeal to a sense of civic virtue, especially among the young who are perhaps not quite as jaded as their elders.

On a related matter, it’s never been clear why Democrats have always been so opposed to voter identification. Rather than working to provide valid identification to every eligible voter, they’ve virtually handed Republicans the issue. It’s probably too late to ensure proper i.d. for voter in this election cycle.

But they must do what they can to make denial of a basic right an issue. It’s not just this election is at stake, but the future of our selection of our leaders in future elections.