How to get people to the polls, when we have to overcome this:
There are all kinds of excuses — voting doesn’t matter, my vote doesn’t count, both sides are the same, the system is rigged — blah, blah, blah.
Unfortunately for us, too many Americans assume that what they have is somehow guaranteed them. That their freedom of movement is guaranteed. That they can go into a store or walk around freely or work on their “art” or … whatever ... is somehow guaranteed to them. That even their life is guaranteed them (Sessions’ DOJ thinks that there should more police brutality, not less).
Deep down, they know that none of this is true and yet, they act like everything they have will never go away. That the worst thing that could ever happen to them … will never happen. That all this — what they see as their birthright, our “American” way of life — is somehow, forever and ever, going to be there for them.
They don’t realize that their version of America, and what the GOP truly envisions, are miles and miles apart, and that they’re actually in completely different universes.
I think a lot of the reason why the largest voting bloc is actually non-voters is because people don't realize what they, personally, have at stake each election. They haven’t figured out that, with this election, they actually have everything at stake.
Messaging on our side has generally been some version of “be-inspired-by-our-candidate” or "vote-because-it's-your-civic-duty" — a “carrot” approach. While this does work for most, given how so many people actually DON’T get that message, I think it's high time we start using a much more direct “stick” approach. It shouldn’t be our only message, but I think it’s a key piece that’s been missing.
We need to stop being polite and accepting whatever bogus excuse someone wants to throw out for why it’s “Just Not Worth Their Precious, Precious Time” to go to the polls. We need to start showing people what they, personally, have to LOSE when they don’t bother to vote.
I’m sure a lot of you have seen the video that Abigail Disney released a really great GOTV video. It shows, straight from the perspective of the 1%, just how fabulously they’re doing now. If you haven’t already seen it, it’s here.
This is a redux of her video, that breaks down all the very sordid details of exactly How Bad the gop wants to screw the rest of us. They do not have good plans for us. They only have Very, Very Bad Plans for we in the 99%.
There’s just too much at stake this election to leave any potential voters outside the polls, because we didn’t bother to make it crystal clear to them exactly what they, personally, have to lose.
I yearn to see the day when we finally make non-voting permanently uncool.
From Destructa in the comments: a great comeback to “I don’t do politics” is “They’re doing you then.”
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