And lack of organization to reach out to disaffected voters.
Numbers are not my strong point, so excuse my lack of precision, please...(Iow, I have no evidence, but would LOVE to see the numbers on this. Anyone? Bueller?)
From what I have heard, 50% of eligible voters don't vote. Over 100 million folks voted in the 2004 election...so that means 100 million didn't vote.
Logic tells us that roughly half of THAT number are disaffected "leftys" or potential Dem voters.
My gut tells me it is more.
But that is an untapped voter pool of.....50 MILLION.
Greens affect the electoral process. There is no doubt of that.
But the BIGGEST effect is not Greens or Libertarians, etc. Third Party's aren't the problem....apathy is. The SHOCKING lack of non-participation is. The lack of effort to get folks involved and off the bench is.
So....while we are wringing our hands about defectors and Greens and taking balls home, let's think about these folks too.
I would like to make one distinction clearer, something I have noticed getting sort of glossed over. There are some folks who are talking about LEAVING the Party. There are other folks talking about NOT SUPPORTING it, iow not actively working on it's behalf. Neither leaving nor non-support means they will not VOTE Democratic. And either way, guilt tripping them and accusing them of enabling Scary Stuff...is not a great way to get them to stay and fight. Honey vs. Vinegar. ATTRACTING voters is what politics is about, not alienating them by telling them they suck.
Think about it.
This seems to me to be a time to try to pull together. To help each other cope. To find solutions. Perhaps spending some time time thinking about how to motivate, involve and bring back the presumed 50 MILLION disaffected leftys will help. Heck, maybe someone will seize on it as a hopeful thing and come up with a brilliant idea, it happens all the time here!
The Pessimist on my left shoulder is cursing a blue streak today. But the Optimist is reminding me that there ARE solutions, there ARE things we can do to change the system. Mr. Lennon went so far as to say that "There are no problems, ONLY solutions." I agree, we just gotta find em.
I have no concrete solutions to getting the apathetic off the bench right now. But I'm sure there are others here who have thought this through more than I, and with better info. I encourage them to speak up. So, here are some questions. ALL answers are welcome. Including personal anecdotes on the non-voters in your life.
Here we go!
Who are they?
What do these potential voters want?
How can we motivate them?
How do we bring them back into the process?
How do we identify and reach out to them?
How do we convince them it MATTERS?
Would ad campaigns educating and highlighting how the process works and why it is important help?
In the current debate on Greens and Nader, etc. I have seen people say that 600 or so votes cost the election in 2000, and that 90,000 Naderite votes are to blame. Fine and good.
But we are talking about an untapped pool of 50 MILLION votes here.
If we can get 10%....5%....hell, 1% of that.....
Just something to think about....Discuss away!