By Carl Weinschenk
You should vote in the midterms this November to make sure your vote is heard. A lot of political maneuvering is underway as November 3 approaches. Turnout will determine how this will play out. The history behind today’s politics is complex, but the simplest and most important action is clear: show up and vote.
The bottom line is that Republicans understand that losing at least some of their power will have grave ramifications for their political and in some cases legal futures. They are working hard to limit their losses, and some of the game-rigging is pretty sketchy.
The historical antecedents of what is playing out are deep. My take is below. The most important part, however, is simple and doesn’t require a history lesson. Democrats must vote in huge numbers to overcome the finagling, which will grow more intense as the pages on the calendar turn, GOP satisfaction numbers crater and desperation begins setting in.
Your Vote is Vitally Important
The bad faith by the Republicans is obvious. The GOP broke precedent and adopted a strategy of redistricting in the middle of the decade. The clear goal is to dilute non-white power.
The Democrats fought back. On April 21, Virginia voters approved a referendum allowing the contours of four districts to be changed to favor the Democrats. Almost 6.4 million voters participated and the referendum was approved by 3.5 percentage points. On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the measure and overturned the will of the people.
About a week later The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a key element of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional. The Guardian tells the story far better than I am able. The bottom line is that the decision made it essentially impossible to win a lawsuit claiming a district is gerrymandered in a way meant to reduce the power of votes cast by people of color.
There are insidious lower profile efforts to suppress and otherwise manipulate the vote.
The GOP has Lost Its Way
The conservative movement made a deal with the devil during the civil rights era. It has taken different forms over the years, but the throughline is that the party covertly and sometimes overtly courts the racist vote.
This is not always the case, of course. True conservative values–limits on foreign entanglements, low taxes, personal freedom, reduced bureaucracy, respect for law enforcement, limited government oversight and so forth–are shared by many Americans and have no inherent racial element. However, the GOP conflates these norms with a celebration of the past. That’s a problem when that past was structured around slavery, Jim Crow and other forms of racism.
This ugly reality was part of our system for decades. We generally limped along. Then, suddenly, an unstable and likely mentally ill huckster with no respect for norms, exceptional self-promotional skills and a lot of luck came along. This gave the conservative movement a means to actually reorder American society.
But nothing comes for free, especially where Dontald Trump is involved. The GOP is doing everything within its power to not pay the bill that begins to come due on November 3. The tragedy is that its plan for doing this, if successful, will grievously injure what has taken two-and-a-half centuries to build. That is of course on top of the train wreck of the first half of Trump’s second term.
The GOP can’t pick which threads of Trumpism to follow. It’s painfully honest that Trump doesn’t care about governing and is uninterested in listening to people who do. Our country is faltering in several deep and serious ways that will take years to fix.
Vote in the Midterms: It’s about our Future
If current polling is anywhere near accurate, Trump’s hold on all but MAGA true believers is collapsing. The party is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Its best strategy is to whittle down the enemy. This can be done by a compromised and compliant Supreme Court molded by The Federalist Society, manipulating congressional districts, intimidating voters and otherwise not playing fair.
That’s where we come in. What desperate Republicans do won’t matter if Democrats come out in droves. We need people whether they are interested in politics or not to understand what’s at stake.
It’s not some blogger giving his two cents. It’s about rural hospitals closing. It’s about whether Latinos are sent to the gulag. It’s about whether sons and daughters and husbands and wives die or are grievously injured in a made-up war. It’s about whether climate change will be addressed. It’s about what’s in the water. It’s about whether people will be able to marry who they please. It’s about whether women will control their bodies. It’s about whether or not anyone will be on the case the next time a dangerous virus arrives.
How we got here may or may not interest you. But the survival of our democracy surely does. The good news is that you can help save it by voting. Please do so.
VTT offers a good deal of voter information. Confused about where your polling place is? What some info in Spanish? Cinco Sitios Web Para Votantes Hispanohablantes? Click on the right to find out what the hot button issues are in your state (this is upgraded gradually). We want to help.
The important is to understand that the people who are elected will have a great influence in your life. This from the highest level and dramatic (national policy) to the lowest level bottom and mundane (getting trashed picked up and potholes filled). Please plan to vote.