…a Fox News reporter had ignited a social-media furor by mocking...“Beyoncé voters” — for the entertainer’s hit song “Single Ladies” — who depend on the government since they lack husbands.
The above quote is from
an article in
The New York Times on the importance of women voters and underscores how critical the issue of respect can be in the upcoming mid-term election. That article and
others detail both the opportunity and challenge facing our American democracy this November. The bottom line is that the voters needed to start turning around the awful politics that have befallen the nation in the past number of years are not waiting to be born (or cross the border)….they already exist; the problem is that those voters, largely single women, are least likely to vote. There is a common belief that you get the democracy you deserve, and if vulnerable voters don’t vote, they have no one to blame for the consequences but themselves. But like so many other tropes, this one doesn’t hold up so well when subjected to some critical thinking. It doesn’t even have to be very deep critical thinking either; it can just be the application of some common sense, as expressed in this further passage from the NYT article:
Among those ground troops is Emma Akpan, an unmarried 28-year-old graduate of Duke Divinity School, who works to register voters but said she understood why so many single women are hard to reach. In an election without presidential candidates and the news media attention they draw, Ms. Akpan said, many women busy with jobs and perhaps children see no point in voting. “If I wasn’t doing this work,” she conceded, “I probably wouldn’t pay attention either.”
There are lots of reasons certain people don’t vote in mid-term elections. Just one of them is that they’re too busy living their lives to pay attention to what might be described as small bore (pun intended) politics. There are others:
10 Reasons People Don’t Vote in Mid-Term Elections
1. They hate politics
2. They don’t trust politicians
3. They don’t see the connection of voting to their daily lives
4. They don’t hear the buzz
5. They don’t feel the urgency
6. They feel powerless
7. They don’t fully appreciate democracy
8. The issues are too complicated
9. Elections are boorrrrinnng
10 They have better things to do
10 Arguments Against those 10 Reasons
1. Hard to argue against how hateful politics can be, except to say that it’s about like plumbing. Unless you’re getting paid $125 an hour to be a plumber, plumbing is no more lovable than politics. But it’s no less necessary, and keeping it running free and clear is far preferable to the alternative. And the alternative to free and clear is likely if you ignore your plumbing. There are many things in life…taking out the garbage, getting a colonoscopy, checking the kids’ homework…that we may not much like, but we do them anyway out of respect for our sense of duty.
2. The best way to punish a lying politician is the same way you punish a lying retailer or lying lover—take your business elsewhere. You don’t give up shopping or having relationships; you find more respectful people.
3. It’s simple really…you and your child’s education, health, safety and financial security are largely in the hands of government. There is no escaping that reality, and unless you’re participating in the process and making your influence felt on your government, you are giving up control to others…and not just any others, but others who do not respect you at all.
4. Yes, it’s easier to get excited about voting and making a choice about who to vote for when it all comes down to just two candidates and both the news media and the pop culture are focused on that choice…like it's the Super Bowl. And there’s no argument that the winner between two presidential candidates can have a powerful impact on your life for years. But as we can now clearly see throughout our current history, more and more state and congressional legislators are involving themselves directly in our private lives without any respect for either our privacy or independence.
5. Urgency, unfortunately (though a great motivator) usually only occurs when we let things go too long and don’t address them until tragedy strikes. For example, by every measurable objective, our national infrastructure--tunnels, roads and bridges--are in terrible disrepair. Waiting until one or the other collapses and sends a school bus full of children into a raging river shows a blatant disrespect for human life.
6. How can we honor and be moved by brave but solitary stands against overwhelming odds by heroines from Erin Brockovich to Malala while shrinking from the small, safe, simple act of registering to vote and voting? To dwell on your powerlessness shows a lack of self-respect.
7. People gave their lives for our right to vote; people in countries all over the world are dying today to get that right for themselves. It is disrespectful of all of them to waste that right once it's yours.
8. The issues are complicated…and confusing. Fortunately there are good fellow citizens who are organized, trustful and willing to provide simple guidance through the complexity…for free! Respect their efforts and your intelligence enough to reach out for help.
9. If elections are really so boring, why are so many other people so worked up about them? Why are so many millions of dollars spent on winning them? Why are so much media devoted to them? Why does the whole outside world watch our elections so closely? What do they all know that you don’t know? You don’t have to enjoy the process; all you have to do is respect it.
10. If you really have better things to do, there are plenty of people busy at work trying to assure that you never have to vote again. R-E-S-P-E-C-T…they don't have it for you and they don't have it for democracy unless you make it so.
I'm guessing Daily Kos doesn't have many single women readers who don't plan to vote this November. But I'm also guessing that every Daily Kos reader knows at least one such woman. If so, feel free to share