This is a dangerous piece of nonsense.
The point about how much individual responsibility we have for what goes on around us is true by itself, but the idea that our votes don't shape our communities is flat out wrong and a complete failure at understanding how self-government is supposed to work.
Those aren't "some people" who have no connection to us — not if the U.S really practices representative government. Not if the words “We the People” have any real meaning. Not if we are serious about making “a more perfect union.”
It's this kind of libertarian nonsense that pretends we don't need government, that it has no connection to us. It’s a toxic belief system that allows charlatans, crooks, and con men to rob us blind, gets us into wars, and divides us — by making us think we can’t make them answer to us. It’s an approach to the world that throws up its hands and looks no farther than “What’s in it for me?”
It’s an illusion of powerlessness, an excuse to avoid responsibility. It’s nihilism cloaked in morality. It’s the argument of the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot. It’s the ploy of those who want to keep us powerless by dividing and conquering us.
If you think freedom is all about empowering the individual, the paradox is that individuals are never more powerful when they come together with others in a common purpose. The simplest way to guard your freedom is to ask “Who has my back — and whose back am I watching?” There are those who argue “If you don’t look out for yourself, who will?” A proper response to them is “Maybe we can’t always save ourselves — but we can take turns saving each other.”
If you honestly think your life has no connection to who sits in the White House (or the governor's mansion or the mayor's office), you need to talk to some people.
Talk to someone who lost friends or family on 911. Talk to someone who got real health care they could afford for the first time in their life thanks to Obamacare. Talk to someone from New Orleans who waited in vain for help in the days after Katrina. Talk to someone in California where firefighters are coming from all around the country to assist locals against the flames.
Talk to someone living on bottled water in Flint, Michigan. Talk to someone trying to keep the schools open in Kansas or the voting booths in North Carolina. Talk to someone dealing with maternal mortality in Texas.
Talk to someone saved by a local ambulance corps, or whose missing dog was found and rescued by an animal safety officer. Talk to someone whose street in Omaha has been ground up and replaced with gravel instead of having potholes filled.
When your kid's school is failing to teach them what they need to know, ask what it will take to make your kid’s school better for everyone in it. If you're pregnant and you've just been warned Zika is now in the mosquitos in your neighborhood, ask who blocked funding for prevention efforts, why — and who else is in the same boat with you. If you're living in retirement, ask why billionaires get tax cuts, but you can't get a cost of living increase or affordable drugs — and neither can all the other seniors you know.
You are only alone in the fight if you don’t look to others. Work with them to do something about it. It’s true that one person can make a difference — but how often is that difference possible because they got other people looking in the right direction and brought them together?
If you want to stop crime in your neighborhood, do you think it makes a difference how easy it is to get guns or how the police do their jobs? Do you think it matters if people can't find a way to make an honest living? Are those problems you can solve all by yourself?
It’s hard to see why we wouldn’t want to build our communities with sound morals, values and ethics (and who decides what those are?) — but none of those matter if we pretend government has nothing to do with us.
If you don't think your vote matters, did you take it to the next level? Democracy doesn’t happen on just one Tuesday in November. When was the last time you wrote to your congressional representatives, called them, or emailed them? When was the last time you signed up to help a candidate who reflects your values get elected? Signed up for email from your government representative. (The smart ones are doing it at all levels.) Ever managed to get a letter in the paper about some issue? (They’re still out there.)
Have you ever knocked on doors, helped people register to vote? Shown up at a Public Hearing armed with ideas, facts, relevant questions and not just fear and anger? When was the last time you walked into a voting booth knowing the record of the incumbent, or the proposals of the challenger, or who either are working with/for? Have you ever voted in a primary? Ever considered running for office?
If you do nothing else, start by sitting down and making a list of all the government officials who are your responsibility — because you can vote for them. Maybe your choice didn’t win the last time around — but the person who did is still supposed to answer to you. It’s part of the job description. In America it goes town — county — state — national. Each one of those levels is a place where you can make a difference — if you look for that place.
The body politic needs a healthy diet and regular exercise.
If you're not doing something about that, don't complain about the consequences and don't pretend it has nothing to do with you. You don’t have to go nuts over every single thing going on out there (although some days that seems like it’s unavoidable), but pick something that matters to you, learn everything you can about it, and see what you can do to make a difference — and who you can work with to make it happen, because it’s not just about you if you’re really talking about community.
A group of people who don’t look beyond their own interests isn’t a community — it’s a mob of isolated individuals. No amount of sound morals, values, and ethics can make up for that lack. They are like bricks without mortar. You can’t build anything lasting with them. All you can do is arrange them into stacks that will crumble at the first real challenge.
People who say “Freedom isn’t free” too often don’t think of anything but the cost in lives lost and blood shed. There’s also the cost of paying attention, putting in time, and dealing with the consequences of choices, including choosing not to choose.
The dirty little secret of democracy is that even though you get a vote, it doesn’t mean you get what you want. Part of the cost of freedom is the willingness to have faith that you can still use the process to keep working towards what is your ultimate goal. it’s also about respecting that process even if it didn’t give you what you wanted.
The dirty work of democracy is working to ensure that faith in the system is justified. On average, half the voters in an election will be disappointed — that doesn’t mean the election was illegitimate. On average, half the people who leave a courtroom are disappointed — that doesn’t mean justice wasn’t done. It doesn’t — unless we permit it.
The unhappy truth of democracy — government of, by, and for the people — is that people are not always wise, virtuous, or just. Expecting perfect results from an imperfect source is a recipe for disappointment. History tells us better alternatives have yet to be found because ALL forms of government have people in them somewhere. Democracy has the advantage in that, if done right, power is balanced by accountability and the rule of law. Sometimes results can exceed expectations.
It’s not just about where you are now either — it’s where you’re going to be next year, ten years from now, where your descendants will be a century from now. Distance in time equates to distance in space. The more you reach out from the moment around you, the more people will be involved as time expands.
We have little leverage when it comes to dealing with time on our own. It takes a lot of us working together through government (and other institutions) to transcend the moment, to shape the long arc of justice and other things that don’t happen overnight, to accomplish things we desire but will never live to see. None of that will happen if we listen to those who want us to believe it’s not up to us working together to make it possible.
E pluribus unum.
Here endeth the rant.