This is just the beginning. If our country is to free itself of the Trump and GOP plague, we need to keep voting in all elections. Not just special elections, not just 2018 and 2020, but always be willing to go out and vote.
is not how you lose elections, it's how you kill nations
at least the malicious stand up and show their malice. you can fight them and defeat them
but what to do about this cancer of mindless cynicism that just bends over and accepts the malice and becomes willing slaves: what the fuck is that? how do you deal with that?
People need proof that their vote actually matters. Far too often, people don't vote because they know their vote barely matters, or doesn't at all. Not just because of the electoral configuration, but because representatives represent donors, which most constituents aren't.
I hit the voting booth for state/local propositions; I vote for president because I'm already there. I live in San Francisco. Once the primary is over, it's hard not to feel like my work is done.
However, I also stump pretty hard for the interstate voting compact. Trying to get some of that power back.
Problem is the people not voting are more than likely poorer people or they don't believe their voices will be heard. They tell their children this or focus on other things like feeding their children and making sure they can at least go to school. Along with that some people have a hard time registering to vote at all.
I believe the GOP suppresses the opportunity for people to get out vote on purpose. They know their demo are older white people they have the ability to ensure they vote. If we could potentially make it easier for everyone to vote we wouldn't be dealing with this in the first place cause it would swing drastically.
I did not have this from my parents, but somehow managed to get a very strong civic streak in me in spite of that, and have voted in every election since I turned 18 (not just presidential ones).
When I had my daughter in my early 20's, I started taking her with me. Even before she was really coherent. As she got older, I would explain the process to her, show her how I had my voter book marked with what I'd be voting on (because I research each person and ballot measure ahead of time), and show her how the voting machine worked. I let her push the vote button. I made sure she got a sticker (which was easy--the poll workers love seeing young faces!)
She isn't even sure she wants to get behind the wheel of a car, but she is excited for the day she can finally vote. And so am I.
Kids need enthusiastic support of voting and what it means to participate in the process. One more reason why I think we should be celebrating election day as a national holiday.
I’m actually an example of this. My parents always treated any election like a family event. My siblings and I are adults now and we haven’t missed any election we’re eligible to vote in.
my parents always vote. i remember them talking about voting and taking time to go out and vote since i was a little kid. the idea to me that there are some people who just never bother to go out and vote is SO WEIRD.
I totally agree with you here. However kids are impressionable. And this is how you end up with a kid in 7th grade that’s a conservative. Parroting all the conservative bullshit with no actual clue to what they’re saying.
Back in grade 7 I knew this kid that laughed in our faces when Harper was re-elected. Why did he like Harper? Because his parents told him too. Kids can’t form their own opinions on things like this.
Then I got to college, and the youngest kid in my class was conservative. Guess why? His parents were. Now that I can actually form coherent thoughts I asked him about his views. And guess what? Dudes kinda liberal. He just knows what he’s been told all his life. I told him the views he says he has don’t really align with his actions. That mostly the Conservative party is actively against his demographic. But he didn’t listen. Trudeau is still bad because mommy said so.
So while I agree on your early voting suggestion, I think independent opinions on matters like these are extremely important. Wether or not independent opinions are even possible at a certain age is a different discussion.
I said it in another thread but I'll say it here too. Young people especially feel like their vote does nothing so why bother even showing up. I'm happy to see some of my friends feel the need to get in gear after this election but it's not all of them. Many are even more jaded because Bernie didn't win the nominee.
I think we have to really hammer in the fact that Dems and progressive ideals DO win when more people turn out to vote.
Make it so you can vote online from an app from your phone ? Maybe make it so you don't get signed up for jury duty if you want to vote ? Having to miss work just to vote or worry about how I'm going to pay my rent if i get called to jury duty isnt worth it to me.
Getting jury duty for registering to vote is an urban legend (at least in New Mexico). They take the information from the DMV. Less then half the population is registered to vote but the vast majority has a driver's license or state issued ID card.
Weird, not sure if its the same in Colorado always was told it was from voter registration. Still bullshit they expect you to only take up to $50 for a full days of work. Yeah cause everyone can afford that.
Samantha Bee actually did a great segment on this (ways to motivate young voters to actually go to the polls) and one of the most interesting ideas was using some kind of reward as an incentive. Even something like a badge or sticker - physical or on social media - that lets you show off to others that you voted and also get instant positive reinforcement to keep voting.
There needs to be a massive change in voting across our country.
Voting should take place on weekends, when most people don't work. There should be automatic registration, not added work and time to give someone their constitutional right. Early voting should be available statewide and it should be done easily, not through mountains of paperwork.
When 25% of registered voters in a state come out to vote in an election with massive repercussions to the balance of power in the country and the world and its considered high turnout, that should tell you the problem. That's 25% of REGISTERED voters... not even including non-registered ones.
We need to make it easier and more accessible for everyone to vote. Until that happens, "get the vote out" movements are slapping a bandaid on a gushing wound.
Still though. The complacency of some eligible voters is disheartening. Even today some people in the office don’t bother because they truly believe they cannot make a difference.
Yup, the fallout of the collective experience both domestically and internationally will be something else...we are definitely heading to uncharted territory in U.S. history.
I honestly think it will be fine if we turn the ship around pretty quickly. The rest of the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief, and we'll get back to business as usual.
Trumps presidency was decided by a bit more than 77000 votes across 3 states. That's 0.0002333% of the current US population. I feel like thats a good rebuttal to that argument.
When i read how many votes trump won by i was blown away. One state was only 10k votes in favor of trump. Insanity. Its easy to find the exact numbers if you need em.
If you didnt live in those states your vote meant way less. Presidential Candidates spend all their time campaigning in 5 states pandering to 15% or less of the population.
I know those numbers are generalities, but you get the picture. Trump probably spent zero days in Washington state. Hillary probably spent zero days in Texas.
Oh absolutely. But my point was that all elections can come down to similar margins. A minnisotan vote doesn't matter for shit for a Californian house seat so Californians should still vote.
I used to be like that. Now, as long as I live, I will never miss another election. Last November in Texas we had a special election. No person was on the ballot, only referendums, but I still got out there and voted.
My fiance didn't want to vote lat month here in PA cause it was rainy and like 6:30 p.m. I told her I was going with or without her. She ended up going with me. I was pretty annoyed when she was about to bail.
A lot of people need help understanding the impact that Senate, House and local elections have. I live in a purple county in a very blue state. I know a lot of people that didn't vote in 2016 because it was a foregone conclusion that Clinton would carry the state. Because of that a Republic won our House seat by 50k votes.
Because the base is older, retired, and has the free time to go out and vote in every election. It's one thing to hit up the presidential election every 4 years for someone like myself, who drives an hour+ usually to work, is at different job sites weekly, works 10-12 hour days, and can't afford missing work, to just take off early or come in late to be able to vote in every local/state/whatever election. Doesn't matter if my employer lets me take the time off to vote in all of those, I can't afford to miss work to do so.
He's trapped. He has no support except for the hardcore Republican base. They support him precisely because he spouts a continuous stream horrible, hateful shit. But that stream of shit turns off a lot of people in the center, and it energizes Democrats. But if he cuts down on the stream of hateful shit, the psychos will soften in their support for him. It's a trap.
He favors Israel for two reasons, neither of which are for the love the Jewish people.
The apocalyptic Christian sects that he needs the support of need to see the establishment of the "greater Israel" with it's biblical boundaries for the "second coming" to begin. These people are trying to bring about "judgement day" as described in the book of Revelations.
Trump is great admirer of right wing tyrants and Bibi Netanyahu fits that mold pretty well.
Sure, but 9 years ago we elected the first black president and look where we are now. It's a very nice win, but complacency put us in the position we are in now.
Yes, but we are also given a constant stream of things to be mad about every single day. The news just keeps coming at a pace that we've never seen before. That might be enough to keep people from becoming complacent, but only time will tell.
Yes, but we are also given a constant stream of things to be mad about every single day
Yeah, which is exactly what's been happening on the right for decades. Fox news, Breitbart, Infowars, it's all a constant stream of bullshit that induces rage in the right-wing.
They're being told every day, "better get out and vote or these democrats will kill babies!", "get out and vote or these democrats will let terrorists in to the country!", "get out and vote or these democrats will let illegals in to the country to steal your jobs!", "get out and vote or these democrats will steal your hard earned money and give it to undeserving welfare queens who will spend it on booze and drugs!"
The right is fueled by outrage, and that's why they actually get out and vote. It doesn't matter that their outrage is manufactured, it's effective.
I'm 27, and up until the 2016 election I had previously only voted in the Presidential elections of 2008 and 2012. No more. I will now vote in every single election at every single level of government for the rest of my life. It's a somewhat meaningless gesture, living in Boston, but it's something I plan on making a life long habit of. I'd wager I'm not alone.
Thank you Grace, but I think you're wrong. It's precisely the us vs them mentally that got the pivotal voters out this time. Think about the fact that Roy Moore was flat-out labeled as a pedophile and how the democrats fucking hammered that label hard. It was a page straight from the GOP playbook. The guy was very unqualified to hold the position he was campaigning for for a litany of reasons, but the pedophile angle was the dominant one. We did an amazing job of making his name synonymous with creeping for underage tail. If this is the way things are going to be in order for us to reclaim a solid hold on our government, so be it.
Literacy tests, black votes didn’t count as full votes, harassment at voting centers, etc. IIRC, one of the main reasons the KKK gained traction was because of blacks receiving rights. The law (begrudgingly, it was more of a political power move) stated that black men could vote legally, but much of society saw it as unacceptable that lesser humans be treated equally.
Obama is probably the most beautiful speaking president I have been alive to see. He’s clear, concise, always looks authoritative and in control of the situation. He was presidential.
That may be partially true, but there are a lot of people on both sides who really didn't like Hillary and that's also part of why they didn't turn out. They didn't think Trump could possibly win and didn't want to vote for Hillary. Though her being a woman was a sadly a factor for some, for those who could have made the difference, it was about her being her.
I would argue the party leaders had a lot more to do with where we are than the voters themselves. It's hard to get masses of people to go out and vote when theres no message behind it other than "at least we aren't Republicans". Hopefully this year has been a wake up call for both the base AND the establishment.
Eh, I tend to think actively trying to keep the same leaders in power is a bit different from complacency. Plus the original post sounded like you were only blaming the voters and giving the establishment a pass. If that wasn't you're intent, my bad.
Sure but did they just vote for him because he was black... So much of or voting is done simply because he's a democrat because he's a republican. Voting is difficult on one side we have a idiot running for office on the other side we have a crook... I chose the lesser of two evils and voted third party.
BINGO. We cannot get complacent. We cannot let people forget what a giant shit stain on our country the GOP has become. I never in a million years thought I and the rest of the developed world would be paying such rapt attention to a special senate election in Alabama. We need to keep this momentum going.
It was definitely complacency on the parts of the liberal that Trump won. However on the flip side, Trump also won because he was able to rally certain disenfranchised "conservative" groups to go out and vote for him, when most of them have not voted in decades.
The truth is not one side can be complacent. Voting to keep a pedophile/an abortion supporter out of office is still a demonstration of democracy and it is on everyone of us to take our parts to share the narrative we want to see.
i blame the aging boomers. shaking their walking sticks at Fox News. They are still causing trouble the old fuckers. good news? they will all be gone soon.
A democrat was just elected to a seat that has been held by republicans for 25 years. I don't think the attention span is that short.
Against a republican when the republican president has a historic disapproval rating.
Against a republican with a child molestation scandal brewing.
Against a republican who said the 1850s were the last time America was great.
Against a republican who wants to toss out every amendment after 10 (bringing back slavery?)
Against a republican who was tossed from his judicial office twice - because of violating the constitution.
My point is - there was SO much fodder against Moore. And we BARELY squeaked a win out. Yes, it's a great win, I'm thrilled. But Do. Not. Get. Complacent. Do not assume that things are 'changing'
We still have shit attention spans. We still have an uphill battle. Do not sit down. Keep fighting.
The sad part is that out of all those things you mentioned, the only reason Moore lost was because of the child sexual assault, when he should have been rejected by voters before those allegations came up.
If it was any other candidate with the same political views, they would have won.
Roy Moore was not even liked by the Alabama GOP. But, his one and only saving grace (in the eyes of most of the Alabama GOP) is he is anti-abortion. I heard it said that this election came down to whether you're "pro-child molestation" or "pro-baby killing."
Sign me up for baby killing. Overpopulation is a worldwide problem. Plus it's probably kinder to kill someone as a baby than to let them grow up to be molested as a teenager and then see their abuser lauded as a great man.
(00:28) Judge Roy Moore stands for protection (for) ... the rights of babies like your eight month baby that you're carrying now. Doug Jones says you can take the life of that baby..."
idk man, for Alabama it's pretty remarkable. It is sad that the bar is so low - a pedophile barely lost a senate race - but that 1.5% margin of victory means something. It shows the cracks in the GOP machine, they are tearing themselves apart - I hope this is some foreshadowing for fall 2018.
You think that Alabama voters would reject a candidate for expressing anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-Muslim rhetoric? Why on earth do you think they'd do that?
Yes to all of the things you said, and yet, Moore still got 650,000 votes compared to Jones' 671,000.
Yes, it was a victory for common sense, and non-pedophiles everywhere, but 650,000 people would still rather vote for a regressive anti-human rights child predator than a Democrat.
Yeah, but also this was Alabama. We should ALWAYS have a candidate opposing the Republican, but we can’t expect to win those. The fact that this can happen in Alabama is heartening for the rest of the country. There are tons of states that are republican controller and shouldn’t be: Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, the middle states, we have to win there. The strategy moving forward needs to push always at all levels of government. Especially leading into 2020. We have to win big to break gerrymandering and set up a fair electoral system.
Barely squeaked out a win in a state that was roughly +30% for Trump a year ago. If this 15%ish shift can be maintained for the next 11 months (and as more comes out about Trump, and the Republicans keep pushing shit like their garbage tax scam and anti-net-neutrality, and the Bannon/Trump folks keep talking, that's likely) then November 2018 will go well for Democrats.
Sane Republicans will be demoralized. Normal Republican donors will be hesitant. Democrats will be energized and engaged.
The Democrat won by a very narrow margin against the devil. Literally, the WORST republicans could offer.
Honestly most every Republican I know see this as a HUGE victory. They pretty much know now they will win every election they put a decent candidate for.
Thank you. The fact that in the end it was about 1% difference in the vote is insane. It wasn't that Republicans voted for Jones. They just stayed home because the didn't want to vote for a child molester.
You are absolutely correct. As much as I'd love for this to be the start of a trend, I feel like its more of an isolated event. Moore had too much baggage that could not be ignored by even the most loyal Republicans.
We forget how Republicans who are born and raised in the South are immediately indoctrinated into thinking our country should operate on borderline theocratic standards. It will take A LOT for this brainwashed demographic to vote for future Democrats who are pro-choice and are open to other religions in America. A common theme I saw during this AL election was this demographic believing the absurd strawman that Doug Jones was a fanatical pro-abortion advocate who endorsed aborting babies right up until birth. This is a lie that their right-wing echo chambers planted into their heads.
All future Dem candidates need to distinguish they are pro-choice, NOT pro-abortion and that blue states where abortion is legal actually have LESS abortions than red states where sex education lacks and is looked down upon.
That makes it all the more frustrating because many who voted for Moore hold the opinion that any R is better than any D, no matter their history. I don't even know how to convince my "conservative" family that Democrats aren't demons.
Yeah, the fact that despite all the tremendously shitty baggage Roy Moore has hanging off him, he still barely lost by a pretty small margin is pretty fucked up.
Against a republican who was tossed from his judicial office twice - because of violating the constitution.
Yet he was voted back in after being removed the first time. That was not an issue for many Alabama voters. In fact, to his base this legitimized him by putting religion before the Constitution.
OK, but for that Democrat to be elected, the GOP had to run a pedo. And he still almost got half the vote. The black voters did not swing this election. Some conservatives that found a conscience somewhere in the dark recesses of the attic won this election.
I mean, you'd have to compare that to the black vote the last time a Republican won the seat. The difference could just as easily be that more whites voted blue than normal.
Turnout is what won this election, and for that, we have the black voters of Alabama to thank. Remember, it's not just percentages you have to look at when you analyze elections, it's mostly about people showing up and being counted.
Not even just the first dem in 25 years. The last time dems were in there they were Dixiecrats that were exactly like Moore. This is the first time someone from the other ideology of the US has served AL in the Senate since the US government had Willard Warner (who had just served as an OH state senator) finish out a former Confederate's term in 1868.
Did you miss the fact that 600k people still voted for a racist pedophile? Yeah, it's a huge victory, but it was still close and hopefully this is a step in the right direction and not the high watermark.
By a couple percentage points when his opponent is basically accused of being a pedophile.... let’s not pretend this is some big movement. He still got 48% of the vote as a guy who tried to have sex with 14 years olds.
So then step 1 is to vote people in who will change the voting system to cater to that. Incidentally, this will also make our dinosaur of a system more efficient.
short attention spans, short memories, and short sighted
we need to stop the 2 party system and have real election reforms that fix this model t we are running with.
Glad Moore is out, all i know of him is he is an Alabama politician and that he should have to introduce himself where ever he goes to make sure people know to keep their kids safe from him.
I have voted in every election since I was 18 (which was a long time ago) and I don't see what the big deal is. Every two years you do something, that's all. Like once a year I see the doctor.
You don’t always have a candidate like Moore to inspire GOTV, I think the women who exposed him deserve the credit for this win. Much more than Jones.
How do you replicate those numbers? Why couldn’t HRC do it? These are important questions to do better in 2018 and beyond.
Liberals were the second strongest bloc for Jones, moderates not so much. Also more voters identified themselves as liberal in AL, than ever before. And young voters also heavily favored Jones.
How do we GOTV across the board? I don’t know that this election strategy can ever be replicated, Moore was such a colossally awful person.
In Alabama, Jones was never a safe bet. In fact, I know I'm not the only one expecting to be unsurprised but disappointed at a Moore win. So the importance of voting if you didn't want Moore was very obvious.
With Trump, no one expected him to win. The narrative was Clinton would trounce him because who the hell would vote for him? So the republicans came out like they always do, and the democrats stayed home.
In 'bama, the republicans stayed home this time because Moore is so bad they didn't want to vote for him (but couldn't bring themselves to vote for a "dirty librul" either). Meanwhile Democrats were motivated to try to make sure a child molester didn't make it in to office.
There was a lot of phone banking to inform voters (many didn't even know this election was happening), and a lot of efforts to physically get people to polling places. We need to get people to the polls in 2018 in the same way. Physically drag them there.
Everyone has to call/text friends and family about voting, make it a group thing. Go vote and then head to lunch/dinner. Turn this in to a national holiday where we vote and then celebrate democracy in action. MOTIVATE people to WANT to vote. Even if they're just doing it to get you to stop pestering them ;)
We need to teach civics and civic duty in High School. Most kids don't vote. They aren't familiar with what to do, where to go, what to expect and just don't think about it much. Nor do they pay much attention to news.
This is a multi-generational thing. Their parents didn't have civics courses and not voting is being handed down.
I've never voted before but all this bullshit going on in America has showed me just how insanely important it is. I plan on voting in every election from the local level up from here on out.
Hopefully a victory in a state like Alabama will help other potential blue voters in otherwise red districts come out and try to make a difference on election day.
And we start by convincing all the disenfranchised communities in this nation that it's worth it. That real change is possible (if slow) when they turn out. And that's not to underestimate the very effective campaign that the GOP has waged to make that difficult or nearly impossible. In many of these communities, it's not just a trip down the street before or after (or during, with pay) work hours. Many times people don't vote because it's been made all but impossible to do so, and efforts continue to make it harder. If the Democrats manage to regain control, voting rights need some serious shoring up.
That is absolutely true, then you look at the last city council election in my major city a quite important one and see turnout was 27% because there were no state or national races...
Yes. This message needs to be hammered home every single election. In future years we can say: Do you want another Trump? A reminder of this horrible time should be all that is needed to motivate Dems as along as we run a solid candidate.
This is massive indeed. Alabama man....who would've thought? You can't help but wonder if we still would have won if the republican candidate wasn't a pos?
Because it's been proven time and time again, especially in this political climate that republicans will vote R no matter what...it's party before anything.
That's why I don't think it even mattered that he had all these crazy allegations that he was most definitely guilty of btw, but it's hard to imagine people not voting for him because of this.
Black voters showed up and that's what swayed it so....not sure what that has to do with the allegations...
I would say it’s more of a Trump and Tea Party plague. Yes we should go out there and vote in all elections and vote for the right candidate, not necessarily whoever your party shoves into your face as your choice. Regardless if you’re democrat or republican.
Two years ago I would have agreed with you about the Tea Party plague, but the Republican party seems to have kicked their conservative voters for the Tea Party fanatics. Unless Republicans kick their Tea Party members out, along with most of their dogma, I will continue to equate the two.
I think the main reason we got so pushed to the right is because conservatives are such reliable voters. They could always push for the more conservative candidate in primaries. If you want to push country to the center, you have to start with primaries and local elections and vote reliably, even if you have to write-in for a candidate you want.
I don't consider the voters a plague, I consider the political leadership and party as harmful, so the plague metaphor seems appropriate. Nevertheless, I am just another random dude from Atlanta, Georgia; no need to listen to me if you don't want to.
Once we have a majority we need to pass long lasting legislation that protects voter rights, anything that actually encourages people to do their civil duties.
I would love to see some kind of bill that funded fair elections, so our politicians could actually do their job instead groveling on the phone to anyone willing to write a fat check.
Hopefully Trump (and the possibility of Roy Moore) is a wake-up call to all the liberal voters of this country. "If you do not get out and vote EVERY TIME, then terrible and awful things can happen." If the American populace stands up and says "we will not accept the GOP's bullshit in its current form. If it want's to survive, it needs to pander to the middle, and not to the far right."
Maybe the democrats will start fielding some actual progressive candidates. (Not saying they are the same as the vile Republicans or that I wouldn't have voted for them -- I'm Canadian so had no say in this election).
Democrats need to impose mandatory voting, as we have in Australia, as soon as they have the capacity. It will put an end to this nonsense and cynical voter suppression strategies.
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u/cw97 America Dec 13 '17
This is just the beginning. If our country is to free itself of the Trump and GOP plague, we need to keep voting in all elections. Not just special elections, not just 2018 and 2020, but always be willing to go out and vote.