I’ve made it no secret over the years that the people who say they are going to sit out an election for various reasons — to send a message, because the system is corrupt, whatever — infuriate me. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the people who take this position, proclaiming that they won’t vote unless things change, have never run for office. Things don’t just “change.” The American political system does not have a light switch that gets hit when one candidate — even a president — is elected. Change comes from numbers, from the bottom up. Yes, a president can set an agenda, but if the state legislature of the opposite party has rigged the system through gerrymandering, enabled by the fact that progressives didn’t turn out to vote, then that agenda will die in the House.
I want things to change. That’s why I have run for office. That’s why I am an official in my local democratic party and an active participant in the state party. That’s why I phone bank for down-ballot candidates (and presidential candidates) across the country. Thats why I canvass and drive people to the polls.
When I first ran for statewide office in 2010, I ran for the legislature on a progressive platform. (I had won local elections in the past, but circumstances led me to not run for reelection in 2008.) Did I solicit money for the campaign? Yup. Do I know who gave? No. I never asked and never wanted to know. Did anyone gain access to me solely because they gave? Since I didn’t know who gave, obviously not.
We raised enough money for the basics of any election — get out the vote efforts, polls, campaign staff, etc. To save money, my campaign headquarters was my dining room. Our polls weren’t the best money could buy, but they showed a majority supported my positions, but the race got tight when only support of likely voters was counted.
Meanwhile, on dailykos, I watched the biannual “I’m not going to vote because” routine. That year, it was “I’m not going to vote to send Obama a message” as if the presidency was the only office that mattered. That year, I also pleaded with people to vote, only to get the “he hasn’t earned my vote” response.
Bull. *I* earned your vote. And so did other progressives who ran for office. Maybe you never heard of me, maybe you didn’t study the down ballot candidates well enough to know me or Tom or Dick or Harriet or any of the others of us who were out there busting our butts for the progressive cause. I promise you, unless you are in a hopelessly red state, there are progressives running for positions that matter.
Come election day, the “likely” voters collapsed. Republicans came out in droves, Democrats stayed home. I lost badly. Would I have won had people who say they care about the issues come out to vote? No way to know. Did I deserve to win? No one deserves anything in a political race. Did my base fail to show up at the polls? Yup.
In the years since, my state has been hopelessly gerrymandered. I have abandoned my plans to run for Congress. It is simply impossible to win. Had the state legislature gone democratic in 2010, the gerrymandering wouldn't have happened and all of the voting hurdles that have emerged since would not have been put in place. How many progressives have abandoned efforts to run for wider office because progressives refuse to vote? I know of two others besides me. And please, don’t try and convince me to run again — i surrendered huge portions of my life and time with my family for this, only to hear again and again how progressives weren’t going to vote because because because. I’m not making a year-long sacrifice for people who don’t care enough to spend a little bit of a day once every two years to vote.
You want a revolution? Then get off your butt and work for one. Phone bank. Canvass. Run for office. And vote. Don’t just think a progressive movement will win the day by sitting at home. You don’t want to vote for Clinton? Fine, don’t. But if you don’t research who is running down ballot, and you don’t go to the polls to support the one or two candidates who reflect your views, understand you are not making a point and you are not advancing the progressive cause. You are just lazy.