A friend of mine recently confided that he is considering sitting out the Nov. 6 election. “It’s rigged,” he said, “Trump was elected without winning a majority and big money has distorted everything. I’m disgusted.”
I told him that if he’s disgusted now, wait until he skips voting this November.
Not voting is exactly the kind of behavior that the right-wing zealots who control the executive branch and both houses of the legislature in our federal and state governments want from voters.
In 2016, Trump was elected precisely because people didn’t vote. In fact, more eligible voters stayed home than voted for either Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton. You could say, as one newspaper headline declared, that non-voters handed Trump the presidency. Recent research indicates that younger, more progressive voters stayed away from the polls while older more conservative voters showed up and voted.
So, a minority of the country now is shaping the future for the vast majority, who don’t agree with their policies. Parents seeking refuge separated from children at our southern border. Climate change denial. Overturning environmental protections. Tax cuts that have swollen the income disparities in this country. Voter restrictions in the absence of voter fraud.
And it gets worse. If the majority stays home this Nov. 6, here’s what the extremists plan: reduce the minimum wage; cut public education budgets; privatize Social Security; overturn the Clean Water Act; take away the right of people with pre-existing conditions to buy health insurance; oppose federal support for renewable energy; privatize our national parks and permit the mining of uranium in the Grand Canyon; use public tax money to pay for private, religious schools, including schools that teach that women should be subservient to men; and, of course, there is the overturning of women’s reproductive rights and Roe v Wade.
Hard to believe? All of these policies have been advocated by Koch brother-funded groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the America Legislative Exchange Council. Here in New Hampshire, the school voucher bills narrowly defeated last year – and promised to be reintroduced by our current governor next year – are boilerplate bills drawn from ALEC.
And consider this: Republicans currently control the executive and legislative branches of government in 32 states (including here in New Hampshire). If they get to 34, it would be possible for these extremists to call a Constitutional Convention to rewrite the U.S. Constitution and attempt to put into place severe voter restrictions and other threats to our democracy.
The good news is that there are great candidates running here in New Hampshire for our governor’s office, the Legislature, and the U.S. Congress. We have a chance on Nov. 6 to reduce extremist control and restore some balance to our state and our federal government. There are candidate forums and meet-and-greets happening throughout our state. Now is a great time to meet some exciting, hopeful candidates for public office.
If you want to make things better, register to vote. And on Nov. 6, vote!
(Sam Osherson lives in Nelson.)