One of the first things a veteran Dkos front-pager told me after my promotion was that I could write a post condemning Dick Cheney and get 200 adoring comments in less than an hour. But ask unregistered voters to register, ask readers to consider signing a petition, and the turn-out is shockingly low.
The opposition is banking, literally, on our apathy. Karl Rove is depending on you not to register to vote. Dick Cheney is praying you won't talk two into joining you. Jerry Falwell and James Dobson are anointing themselves with magic wingnut oil to keep you from checking with your local party HQ to see if there's a candidate who needs volunteers, or something as simple as signatures to get a local candidate on the ballot. There are plants and trolls here specifically to stir up division and to spread the idea that your vote won't be counted, no matter where, no matter what.
Meanwhile, the opposition will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising; grassroots conservative orgs will conduct massive voter registration drives; the GOP and associated groups will run buses to the polls on election day from Churches, colleges, military bases, and retirement homes, delivering truckloads of misled citizens to vote against their own interests; our interests. Why? Because they know votes count!
[PZ Myers] This is how the monsters win, you know. They launch horror after horror, and as long as we have our electricity and orange juice and the quiet comforts of our homes, after a while we stop flinching, we just sit benumbed, we tell ourselves, "I'll rouse myself for the next really big one," and we remind ourselves that we couldn't stop the last war, so how can we be expected to stop the next one? We tell ourselves that the democratic way to stop this ongoing nightmare is to elect better leaders at the next election (always the next, it rarely seems to be this one) ...
We have a little over half a year until the midterm elections. After that, we'll have to live with the results until November 2008. I don't even want to think about how much additional hardship the WH and the Rubber-stamp Republicans could leave the working class saddled with between now and then.
I know for a fact that many here are busting their ass to stop the GOP machine. Their commitment is admirable, downright inspiring. But I'd guess there's a few readers who keep meaning to do something as simple as register to vote, or contact their local Dem HQ, but haven't gotten around to it. Maybe you moved recently, maybe you just reached voting age, maybe you've been sick, or bogged down working two jobs just to stay afloat. The Republican Culture of Corruption is betting you won't get around to it in time. Question is, are you mad enough to prove them wrong, yet?
Update: Recommended comments: whatwoc1, Oaktown Girl, eddieb, paradocs
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