Here in the United States, after a bizarre primary season, American voters prepare for a November election. As we do this, everyone repeats the old myth that, regardless of the difficulties in choices, "You must cast your vote for President!"
Facebook posts and news articles stress that "Your vote for president is important!" (Many then go on to tell you who you should vote for and why that candidate matters.)
I will skip all the political debate about who to vote for and confront the false and damaging myth that "Your vote counts!"
Your vote for president is meaningless. And the belief that that presidential vote counts is damaging.
IF you cast your first presidential vote at the age of 18 (as I did) and if you continue to vote every four years until you are 118, your vote will never come close to impacting the election. This is true even if, somehow, you also talk TEN THOUSAND friends into voting with you!
My goal is not to denigrate voting for president. But your vote is only important locally, not nationally. Vote locally; vote in the small elections for city council, school board, district judges, the sheriff or chief of police. It is in those small, less splashy elections that your votes (and the votes of your friends) may indeed count!
The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri on August 9, 2014, turned a spotlight on that city of 21,000 residents. Although two-thirds of the residents were African-American and many of those residents expressed frustration with racial profiling, the city council remained all white; the police chief was white and 48 of 53 police officers were white. The officers were comfortable making racial jokes and slurs. The local environment was toxic. But when discussing the make-up of their city, many African-Americans expressed resignation about local politics, skepticism that the city could be changed and apathy about voting locally. Yet many of them also expressed their excitement in voting for Obama in the 2012 presidential election.
It was precisely that presidential vote which did them no good.
In hindsight, it is clear that if the African-American community in Ferguson had concentrated on changing the local environment, on supporting progressive candidates for city council and mayor and had advocated for removing the police chief, the endemic racism in the local structure might have been forcibly changed (or at least reduced.) The cycle of poverty caused by police revenue-generating tactics could have been confronted. But instead the community voted for president.
In the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney won Missouri by 260,000 votes and so Missouri cast 10 votes in the electoral college for Romney. It cast no votes for Obama in the electoral college (of course) and so any vote for Obama in Missouri did not affect the electoral college vote.
The racially oppressed African-American community in Ferguson had (still has) the power to change the political structure of that town. The members of that community should vote in all upcoming elections. But they don't need to vote for president. While everyone's attention is turned to the splashy presidential and national elections, the real power of the voter is locally!
Nate Silver's 538 webpage predicts that Missouri will go strongly Republican in the 2016 presidential election and (at the time of this writing) gives Donald Trump an 83.6% probability of winning Missouri's 10 electoral votes. Regardless of how any one individual votes, the state will cast all its electoral votes for Trump. The people of Missouri can debate the merits of Trump, Clinton and third party candidates like Gary Johnson all they want. They can post on Facebook arguments about the next president's impact on pro-life, pro-choice, immigration, women, health care, military ... but the simple truth is that Missouri will cast 10 electoral votes for Trump and that is that. What really matters is the local election!
I can hear the common opposition to this argument. It begins, "If everyone followed your advice then..."
Stop! Logically -- one canNOT argue a point with a supposition that is false! This will never occur; human beings don't act that way. If, in some unlikely future election, MILLIONS of people were to decide to cast local votes but NOT vote for president, this might force politicians to rethink the election process and the electoral college. (Frankly, that would not be all bad.) But most people will continue to mindlessly believe that their presidential vote is somehow important. And they will not pay attention to the smaller local elections where they do have a voice.
Yes, think globally. But vote locally!
No comments:
Post a Comment