I voted today. Along with millions of my fellow citizens, I entered the inner sanctum of our common civic religion: the voting booth. I took a moment to think on my choices -- a timeless moment in every citizen's life we call voting.
I voted today. I am voting with millions of my fellow progressives for change and hope though we may not have yet seen either in evidence on the issues dearest to our own hearts. Some of my fellow voters come having studied every nuance of every choice. Some come distracted by the furious onslaught of life, but feel the clarion call to duty so hard to hear in an off-year election.
I voted today, and righteously renewed my social contract with all my fellow citizens; with all of you. I voted, so I continue to have the absolute right to loudly proclaim my grievances against this Government.
The civic religion of America is not a religion of dieties. It is the minimal responsibility to our fellow citizens required to keep the American Dream alive for all of us. In no other sphere of human striving do we expect to share more than a smattering of beliefs. In this sphere, as American citizens, we absolutely agree this holy act should be enacted by every citizen who qualifies.
When Palinites complain about humanism as a religion, they have a point -- but not the one they imagine. For they, as fellow citizens, practice and act as adherents to that religion every time they protest and vote. The Renaissance brought forth many experiments in government around the world and in each state within our union. Ours has survived only because the voting booth is absolute. The ritual of voting places the greatest power We The People can confer on any set of our public servants, and upon any citizen. That power must exist to remain a nation. That power must be exercised wisely on pain of being turned out of office and shut away from that power in favor of another We chose.
This religion, this humanism, is distilled in our Constitution and its Admendments. The first ten amendments were hammered out in the years after the Constitution was ratified and are called the Bill Of Rights. The rest responded to our greatest failures and highest ideals. This civic religion requires enough of us practice it so all citizens share in the benefits of democratic government and republican organization.
Game theory is not sufficient reason to vote. First you need to accept a responsibility to vote. It has to come from inside yourself. In America, it is easy to not vote. At midterms, something has to stir us to action: to actually go to the voting booth or get the early ballot and send it back. For many of us, that can seem like a lot of effort for hazy issues and no Presidendency at stake.
The Poll
Standing at the table to have my name verified, I glance around. Citizens man the voting place. They take the time to carry out the nitty gritty details. They come to take a place not built for voting -- a school, a church, a community hall -- and make it able to give each citizen a personal space in which to pause and consider the ballot. They create a sanctuary which is here today and gone tomorrow. They are all heros.
These are the people who make the democracy part of our government work. They make sure the votes are secure and counted and inventoried. I know there are places where there will be shenanigans. But in thousands of polling locations across the nation, it is the sincere volunteers who take the time to make this happen.
Here the media and political polls end and the authoritative decisions are made, millions of times over -- the only poll that matters. No single voter knows yet how their decisions will fare when combined with the decisions of fellow citizens. No one does. At the limit of the media scrutiny in real time, twitters and cell calls, computer models more and more nuanced: at the limit of this infosmog is this one small clearing.
I take my ballot and turn to find a booth.
The Voting Booth
I take my ballot and walk to a small booth, really a table with sides so no one can see what I decide. That small boundary draws a magic circle in the midst of the political storms. Within these thin plastic walls, no one can look at what I decide and yell at me. No one can incessantly interrupt me thinking being rude somehow makes their pitiful points are given power by yelling over any opposition.
As I look at each choice, I think of the crazy negative ads launched against so many of them -- and the mundane choices no one has advertised. Over a billion dollars have been spent trying to move me one way or another in this moment, standing there with pen in hand. Politicians and wannabes have flown all over the nation, holding rallies grand and pitiful in places only locals know. Some are earnest. Some are silly. Some wax grandiose and others go over the top.
All to move citizens like me and the pen I now hold. It all comes down to this small act. An action only I can take. A decision only I get to make. All the hue and cry comes to nothing as I fill in a circle, or is encouraged to rise again next election cycle. The pen moves down the ballot and I carry out my duty, once again.
Once I have slain the dragons of stupidity and called forth the legions of those for whom I hold so much hope -- too much hope, maybe -- I take my ballot and put it into the counting machine. The machine slurps it in and I find myself smiling.
The booth, now empty, accepts another citizen for their moment of decision. I nod to the smiling poll worker and take my "I voted" sticker and put it on my shirt. I feel empowered by that little emblem. For the rest of the day, that emblem will remind others a vote is being taken today, and perhaps stir in them the will to actually go and do it themselves.
They have the right, after all. Few things in life can make us feel this way -- empowered and important to the whole of this great nation which I love and for which I worry. A booth awaits each of us. Millions have died defending the practice of making sure that booth is there for us, every election. Millions have marched and protested and brought suit to make sure they and their compatriots can be allowed access to that booth.
Ask not for whom the booth awaits -- it awaits for thee.
Progressive Changes
We in the Netroots and the grassroots progressive political movement have moved the Overton Window on voting a great deal these past ten years. On this blog and thousands of others, diaries about violations and shenanegans have focused attention on those who bend the rules. Early voting and mail-in voting have been expanded and convenient early voting locations set up. Students at universities and colleges are demanding polling stations on campus, which will help boost their participation.
We have learned hard lessons since the electoriate moved into such a delicate balance. So many races are now decided by a handful of votes. These past twenty years the balance has shifted along a DMZ of independents and moderates who do not vote straight party ballots. The election of 2000 was as close to even as you could ask, nationally and in individual races.
Howard Dean and thousands of bloggers and millions of readers led the way into the NetRoots. Dr. Dean launched the fifty state strategy and fought for voter access, early voting and mail-in balloting, and organized the effort to get everyone to vote.
In the voting booth, at the kitchen table and anywhere else we sit down to fill out our ballot, we can give thanks that we have the privilege and the right to have that ballot in our hand. We can be reminded, for a moment, where all political power ultimately starts. Every election cycle, all the political power in this huge, complex and powerful nation springs from the scratching of millions of pens, the pulling of millions of levers and the pushing of millions of buttons by We The People. Coalitions can be raised up and dynasties toppled, all in a single day.
From the stroke of a pen.
Back Into The World
Outside, I pause at my car door looking at my fellow citizens come and go. Centuries of human history and the quest to harness political power to do the most good while we know it also is used for evil. All governments have elements of evil within them. The amazing thing is how many public servants must be really doing their job for things like voting to happen at all. After all, governments are reflections of us as individuals, the good and the bad. I look around and see a miracle, a pinnacle of evolutionary advance and a wonder that has lasted a few hundred years. How much longer can it last?
The balance must be sought each election day. The duty ritual must be carried out especially when it seems like going through the motions. The renewal of our democracy comes from the blood of those who have sacrified for it, yes: but it has evolved and become more humane by the living toil of unspoken volunteers, sincere public servants and the voters who come to worship here. For the one thing every American can share in holy moments of civic pride and duty is the desire to be free to vote. In the moment of voting, you are practicing that freedom for real.
Our freedom is the lowest common demoninator of all religions and philosophies which may be practiced within our borders. But it is also the highest reach of democratic government in the world. Our hearts and our souls make us humane as well as effective. They make us want to lead through innovation and progress. They us want to do as much good in the world as history and politics allow.
That necessary balance is playing out on a bright October day at one small polling location today, and for nine days still. Then Election Day and the final tallies.
I get into my car and smile as I pull away.
Seize The Power
We have opened the vote up for more people these past ten years. We have beaten down those who toy with this sacred right of their fellow citizens and forced whole states make it easy, convenient and obvious to vote. Now that we have made so much progress, we need to keep the tide turning. Each time we vote, especially when the choices are poor, we move the needle further toward elections which better represent Us and our children into the future.
In this election, we have an appointment awaiting us. Volunteers and public servants have labored mightily to find places for us to vote. They have manned the polls to help us get to our booth and hold our ballot. The Netroots has created a web of eyes watching to make sure that ballot will be counted, and counted correctly. All of this, for Us.
Seize the power. We The People have prepared this place, this appointment with destiny, for you. Take it and hold it to your breast. Enact this ritual of our civic and truly common religion. All this is for you.
Vote. Vote like the life of this nation depends on it. Help others get to the polls. Feel the satisfaction of being able to say, "I voted". Renew our common weal.
Vote. It'll do good. It'll feel good. It'll make you smile. How many other things can do all that and be so easy to do?
GOTV