I’ve learned that there is no amount of panic or urgency that will spur people to an action they feel is meaningless. There may be some grudging participation out of a personal relationship, going to church for a friend’s wedding when church itself was rejected long ago perhaps. But generally, the request is met with a variety of rejections -confusion, anger, contempt, dismissal, cynicism, disassociation all show up.
Political engagement seems to be the primary issue wherein movement from inactive to active is most inured from any impact of panic or urgency. Perhaps a few, the formerly politically involved maybe, can be shocked into action through a panicked plea. A few more will respond to a personal invitation to vote. Data suggests that this really does seem to matter. Also, there is no subject like political engagement that provides the wide variety of responses when people are asked about their behavior.
Across and throughout the American political spectrum, there are narratives that give plenty of reasons to not participate. On the left, there is a deep mistrust of the mechanics of electoral politics, an awareness that the ‘system’ as built is intended to constrain real engagement and is skewed to retain power and control in the hands of the few. On the right, there is a deep mistrust of the mechanics of common life in general, an awareness that whenever the rights and parameters of the commons are expressed, there may be fewer options for individuals. Between these poles are most of the people who don’t vote -the majority of the electorate with rare exceptions- and for whom the whole endeavor seems too far from their own lives to either matter to them or be affected by their drop in a bucket.
I’ve written about my upbringing a lot in these blog posts, and so don’t want to re-hash anything, but participation in the civic life around us was taught and modeled for us as much as life in our church community, or any other sphere. Our parents protested injustices, wrote letters to the editor, were aware of global events, and talked about all of it with us. We watched every broadcast Presidential address. I registered to vote the day I turned 18, but had already been volunteering for Al Gore’s 1988 Presidential run.
Now that I think about it more thoroughly, I am not sure how those for whom political participation was *not* upheld as faithful action, or expected behavior the way it was in my family of origin, actually do become active citizens. I am not running my own political praxis longitudinal study or anything, but I have been discussing political action and participation with people for all of my life. The reasons people do not participate are myriad, but I have only found one thing that turns someone into a voter -a cause that matters to them.
I care deeply who represents me in Congress, and track the voting record of my own House Representative. But there are over 400 of them in that body, far too many to know well. I care who represents my state of residence, and I have a love-hate relationship with the Senate anyway, so I pay pretty close attention to several Senators.
But honestly, Congress hasn’t been doing its job for decades now, and while what happens at a Federal level absolutely reverberates throughout the country, no one shows up at the polls for the first time for a Congressional race. Nor are those federal issues the ones that will most greatly affect your day to day life. No, those are all in down ticket races and ballot measures.
We wonder how on earth a small body of people in Texas can damage so much about education nationally but Texas is a huge place, and every state has a jurisdictional state Board of Education setting policy. Every state. Wherever you also live, a small body of elected people sets the policies for education there as well.
Every state has a different tax structure that establishes the base from which public works are done. In virtually every statewide election cycle, there are proposals to tweak and adjust these formulas, to re-allocate resources as per some need or issue. Every state has water boards and utility commissions and healthcare regulators, fiscal regulations and budget priorities.
But even these issues or candidates rarely move people to action in my experience. Even the statewide scale can be too large for an easy connection. No, you must drill deeper, get closer to home. I have been successful in turning an inactive voter into a first time voter several times by finding those local, next door, what-can-I-actually-do-and-not-do issues that matter. Can you have a pit bull breed dog within the city limits? What bucket will the lottery feed -parks or schools? How far away from homes must industrial use be?
For me, the statewide issue in Colorado that can catch the heart-fires of folks is whether or not we will fund free lunches in public schools. Proposition FF would apply a small income tax rise for those making more than $300,000 a year to create a fund to feed children. Colorado is deeply constrained in caring for our people and environment by a false flag tax law called TABOR, the Taxpayers Bill Of Rights. We are forced to piecemeal policy like this because we cannot fully fund what we need to do. The other side is that we are often successful when we focus in on a thing, and this time it’s feeding children.
Does the state have a moral obligation to feed students who show up to learn? I believe so, but then again I believe all people have a right to healthy food. Proposition FF provides a practical and simple way to create the resources for school districts to offer free lunches to all students. In typical Colorado fashion, it requires little but allows much -schools will be able to request direct funds and utilize the resources newly available but no one will be required to.
That’s not always a good choice, the non-requirement regulation, but it’s a typical fix here in this state with the most diverse and active political awareness I’ve ever come across in an average voter. Some here don’t vote as a measure of protest itself. I mean, I’ve always known folks who’ve said that, but here there are entire voting (or non-voting) blocs who declare it and are still involved in many other ways. Voting is just one way to be an active and engaged participant in the endeavor of building a common life.
I don’t know what the issue is at hand where you live, but I am sure -100% sure- that there is something being debated and decided that you do actually care about, that matters to you, and that will impact your life. I urge you to find it, and play the game of democracy along with us. Some games are small group games, and indeed need a constrained community to function. But this search for a common life among and between us all? It really works better with a large group.