To my American friends:
There is an election next Tuesday, November 4th. Vote.
I’ll say it aloud
: our political system is corrupt. Vote anyway. Though your ballot is outgunned by billionaires and their funded campaigns, vote. The candidates are disappointing, discussion of issues has been almost nonexistent, and the ads demean your intelligence, but go out and vote. As lobbyists write laws, and Members of Congress spend more time fundraising than debating issues, and the democratic process seizes, use your influence, however small. Do it. Vote.
Nationwide turnout in the last midterm election was only 40.9%. No wonder the political class treats midterm elections as expensive distractions – 60% of the voters could not be bothered to mail in a ballot, much less visit a polling station.
Think it doesn’t matter? In that election, in 2010, the Republican party regained control of the House, including the all-important committee memberships, then proceeded to close the government, among other follies. Are the Democrats better? Not by much, perhaps only a whisker’s breadth, but why should politicians improve if the citizenry does not vote? Who will hold them accountable for their mistakes, their squandering of the public trust, and their outright contempt of their constituency, if not us?
The less that we, the people, vote, the more that the influential and powerful think that we do not matter, that they can do whatever they want, and get away with it. They are right.
So do it. Hold your nose and vote. You may be making tomorrow better; at least you will not be giving up on it entirely. Have faith. Take a chance. Do your duty. Don’t turn away. It is your future at stake, too.
Vote.
[Original Poster Design by Kate Roger, Art Institute of Chicago CRIT]