Voting your fears. We all know what "holding your nose when you walk into the voting booth" means. We live it all too often. It is understandable, especially these days when the lesser of two evils seems to be doing a pretty good impression of one of Satan's henchmen. And so we take our hopes and aspirations, fold them neatly in two, and put them in our pocket for another day. Sometimes, things happen. A strange confluence of people and events that can provide an opportunity to finally act on those dreams. This election season, just such an anomaly exists in the electoral landscape: the statewide primary in the State of New York. The question is, after so many elections of voting our fears, will we have the awareness and the courage to break the habit of voting in fear?
Primary elections, especially in states with closed primaries, are unlike any other election. Usually very few who are registered actually turn out to vote. The ones who do basically fall into three camps: 1. Highly motivated by affiliation with an organization (unions, trade and professional associations, local political organizations). 2. Informed voters who are concerned about their government. 3. Single issue/social cause voters (Social causes/tax policy/religion or some amalgam of all three as in the "Tea Party").
The first group is probably the most powerful voting bloc during primary season. But this year is different. It is not a monolith, it is fractured and cannot be relied upon to provide a large margin of victory. The SEIU is the largest labor Union backing Andrew Cuomo, and in a sweetheart deal that benefited that union at the expense of other union workers, alienated most of the other unions in the state. Andrew then used his relationship with the newly enchanted SEIU to push Zephyr Teachout out of consideration as the candidate for governor from the Working Families Party. Whether due to the "special relationship" with the SIEU or the way they strong-armed the WFP convention, union voters-even inside the SEIU-are not happy.
The second group is reliable in their turnout. But they often vote out of fear. The imperative to win and keep the opposition at bay is sometimes all that matters. They wish for a day when they will be offered a real choice. They want to be able to vote for "better democrats." But winning in the general is a must for this group, so they take the "safe play" and go along with the party elders. However, if this group can be inspired to drop their fear and vote their aspirations, they can rule the day on September 9.
We have seen how that third group can literally transform a political party. The "Tea Party Revolution" came about at the polls on primary day. Without those victories, the same old Republican ticket would have been elected, and would have governed in the same old way. What they accomplished from the right can be duplicated from the left. It is a rousing idea until our fears overtake us. What if we move the Democratic Party too far to the left and we lose in the general elections? In fact, the party establishment has done quite well with their marketing in that regard (see: Third-way Democrats). But the Democratic Primary in New York this Tuesday is a historic, one of a kind, once in a lifetime confluence of oddities that should be able to drive a stake through the heart of voting in fear.
The State of New York has a closed primary system. There is be no "crossing over" by one party to sabotage another. Further more, New York has thirteen political parties and allows candidates to be represented on the ballots of more than one party. The fact that Andrew Cuomo is the candidate for governor for four different parties is not an advantage in the primary, as no cross-over voting is allowed, and no votes cast for him on minor party ballots count toward the Democratic Party tally. But even should he lose the Democratic primary, he will still be on the ballot in November's general election on three different party lines. So this means that if Zephyr Teachout wins the Democratic Primary on Tuesday, we can watch the fall campaigns of both candidates as well as their Republican and minor party opposition, and if Zephyr is found wanting, a vote to retain Andrew Cuomo is still possible. The only effect of a Cuomo win in that scenario is that one of the minor parties would be elevated to a level of prominence that would rival the two major parties. That may not be such a bad thing, as it would force the state Democratic Party to fully support Zephyr Teachout, or face new competition. And if either Cuomo or Teachout wins, the message will still have been sent to the state party that a Third-Way Democrat is not much more than a Rockefeller Republican, and we know how many of those are still around.
Another opportunity like this will not come around again for a very long time. The reason is the moneyed interests know what is happening this time around, and they are going to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Never again will a woefully underfunded candidate rise from nowhere to pursue office. That is made clear in an article from Crain's New York Business blog:
Longer-term, the philosophy of the party will be decided in primaries where progressives will back much more competitive and well-funded candidates than Ms. Teachout against Democrats like Mr. Cuomo. Playing in that field will be new turf for business groups, and they should get ready for it.(emphasis mine)
It is fitting that this option exists solely because of the greed of Andrew Cuomo. If he had not "wanted it all" and forced the candidate that the Working Families Party had recruited and developed off of their ballot, he would not be facing this scenario. If he were not on the ballot regardless of the Democratic Party primary outcome, then the habit of voting out of fear would be too hard to break. He brought this upon himself.
So here we are, two days before the polls open, and the most important thing that Andrew Cuomo has done is create a truly unique situation where on Tuesday, we can go to the polls and vote our aspirations, free from fear. And if our aspirations are found wanting in the end, if Zephyr Teachout can't take down Rob Astorino before election day, then we can return to our habit and vote our fears.
So take your hopes and aspirations out of your pocket. Unfold them and place them on the table in front of you. Smooth out the creases. Then ask yourself this question: "Am I going to act upon my aspirations this time, or am I just going to fold them up and put them back in my pocket... again?"