I have been discussing with a close friend how we can do more to help in the election, as we are in a deep blue state.
In 2000, I voted for Gore, but since I was already in a deep blue state, it didn’t make a difference.
He, on the other hand, was in Florida and voted for Nader. He was very passionate about progressive process, disillusioned with the “establishment,” and was actively and aggressively recruiting voters for Nader. In Florida. Needless to say, since then he’s thought long and hard about the “what if.” He said he probably personally got 200+ people to vote for Nader, and the 537 votes that W won by has weighted down on his conscience since then. (Of course, in the end, his personal damage to 2000 really wasn’t the tipping point.)
He told me that and I can see that the feeling is mutual between many of the progressive voters who voted third party in 2000. Huffpo followed up with some of these Nader voters from 2000 and not surprisingly, like my friend, they feel like they have to work extra hard to redeem themselves.
They’ve worked in Democratic politics for years ― some as penance for what they did in 2000 ― and they worry that Stein voters are going to be making the same mistake they did with Nader.
Because of 2000, I lost faith in the democratic process and was a dispassionate voter until now. It’s not that Obama was not great, but he was made to be so great that I started wondering whether or not it was all hype, and my guards were up. I still voted for him, of course. Time came for his second term, I liked him a lot more as I’ve seen him navigate the political landscape with so much class and integrity. But in 2012, I felt that the situation wasn’t as urgent as it is today. This election cycle I have gone canvassing, phone banking, and donated many times, all things I’ve never done before.
My friend, on the other, had been very involved in every democratic campaign since 2000. This year, he said he will take off most of October (presumably to work in FL, even though he now lives where I am). I hope his efforts will not be in vain.
I know young voters have probably not gone through this grief process (getting through W’s presidency and watching our country get embroiled in two wars and a financial meltdown), are filled with idealism that we can change the system with a big bang, are upset with the establishment, don’t like Hillary personally, etc. But the alternative is not just so much worse, it’s unthinkable.
Vote Blue. Please.