Choices - or lack thereof - and why voting really does matter
My views, as a long-time unaffiliated (independent) US voter, about next week's Presidential, congressional, and state elections
Our elections and the behaviors of our leaders dramatically influence our lives, whether we like it or not, and regardless of whether we vote.
“We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” - Thomas Jefferson
"Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote." - Daniel Webster / George Jean Nathan / William E. Simon
But many US citizens don’t vote. Voter participation in the US has been well below other advanced democratic countries for decades. It has varied widely, from a low of 35% in one state to 75% in another state. Nationwide turnout (based on VEP1) has mostly been stuck in the 50-60% range. On the plus side, voter participation has risen a bit recently; it was 65.9% in the 2020 presidential election.
Why do so many American citizens not vote?
It’s understandable when citizens don’t vote in the face of obstacles, such as voter suppression, disenfranchisement, inaccessible polling places, or lack of transportation. I fully support the people who are working to register and support voters. (Don’t get me started on the ridiculousness of not being able to give water to people waiting in long lines. Policies that limit polling places and hours to create long lines and inconvenience people are just one insidious form of voter suppression.2)
I recognize that there’s also “internalized voter suppression”. We’ve seen decades of gerrymandering, cynical rhetoric, and even outright harmful lies (like in western NC about aid for Hurricane Helene 3) that separate people from each other and from the government. (The Electoral College used in our presidential elections also skews how much people’s votes count for those positions.)
Some people have come to believe that their votes don't count, or that their government has failed them, and it’s hopeless. They see no point in voting because they think nothing will change. Others feel that not-voting as a protest will somehow cause change.
Why is not-voting a problem? Because not-voting definitely won’t change anything. Voting is the only way things CAN change.
“Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.” - Keith Ellison
“Be depressed, discouraged and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption, and bad politics — but never give up.” - Marjory Stoneman Douglas
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin
My voting history
I haven’t missed an election since I turned 18. Why would I abdicate my decisions, about outcomes that affect us all, to other people who may not share my values?
"You can either vote by voting or vote by not voting. If you don't vote, someone else's vote counts more. IT'S MATH." - Occupy Pragmatism
“Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.” - Peggy Noonan [I assume here that by ‘polls’, Peggy means ‘voting booths’, not ‘surveys’.]
"If you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain." - George Carlin
I vote for people - not a party. I’m an “independent”. I’ve been officially registered as Unaffiliated for over 25 years. Both major US political parties have serious dysfunctions, none of the other parties’ candidates have a real chance of winning, and neither major party is entitled to my straight-line vote. Although I don’t always vote in primaries, I have voted in primaries for both parties in various years. (Glad to be in a state that lets independent voters do that.)
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” - Abraham Lincoln
Over the years, I’ve usually voted ‘purple’ split tickets in the general elections in November. But my shade of purple has gotten bluer lately. The red party has gotten so toxic and corrupted by its leadership that I’ve almost despaired of finding red candidates this year whose values and behaviors and policies I can live with. Our human rights have been steadily attacked by people in positions of power who see the world as a zero-sum game that they don’t want to lose.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” - H.L. Mencken
Our 2024 choices
This weekend, I’ve been reviewing candidates’ websites and several printed and online voter information guides, in preparation for early voting this week. I haven’t yet found ANY red candidates I can vote for in good conscience. The few I remember liking earlier this year got ‘primaried’ by their party.
I’m still looking at the candidates and initiatives for the down-ticket elections. But the top of the ticket is an easy decision, because it’s been clear for many months that there isn’t a real choice.4
At the top, on one side, the choice is a party whose Project 20255 plan and advocates propose to teleport us back to the 1960’s or earlier.
They fear-monger and rant and whip up hatred & resentment of ‘others’. They want to roll back civil, voting, marriage, religious, and healthcare rights for people who are not white cis/het Christian men. They managed to do this to some extent already, by stacking the Supreme Court and lower courts, and by gerrymandering their way to biased congresses at federal & state levels. They’re not going to stop. They need to BE stopped by voting them out.
The last 3 SCOTUS justices crossed their fingers behind their backs and swore in their Senate hearings that Roe v. Wade was settled law of the land and wouldn’t be overturned. Then they undid it. My (and everyone’s) daughter and granddaughters now have fewer rights to their own bodies than I did to mine as a young adult. And women are dying as a result. Maternal death rates are way up in Texas (and the US was already disgracefully high before this happened) 6. This isn’t pro-life and it is absolutely unacceptable.
The VP candidate has openly advocated that women should stay in abusive marriages, not work outside the home, and are only of value to society if they have children or raise them. He has even gone so far as to suggest that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Oh hell no.
Project 2025 has been led and authored by over a hundred people closely tied to the former president. They want to start operating like a dictatorship in January 2025 to ‘make it so’, and he’s openly said he will be a “dictator on day one”. My ancestors did not fight dictators and fascists overseas so that we could someday allow one to rule us here at home.
In short, this red ticket for President and VP is not a viable choice at all. It’s the polar opposite of what I want for my granddaughters and my grandson, nieces and nephews, friends, or anyone.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” - Maya Angelou
“There are no persons capable of stooping so low as those who desire to rise in the world.” - Lady Marguerite Gardiner
“One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.” - Thomas Sowell
On the other side, at the top of the ticket, Harris has lived experience with inequities, and has talked and walked the talk already. Walz, her VP, has demonstrated his active support for rights for all, not just for cis/het white men like himself. And Harris has succeeded in spite of the many barriers in her way as a woman with African American and Asian American ancestry. Her elections and candidacies to date support faith that she is paving the way for fewer barriers for everyone - including other women and people of color. From her 2020 acceptance speech as VP-elect (quoted in ’s article):
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before. And we will applaud you every step of the way.
Now is when the real work begins. The hard work. The necessary work. The good work. … To rebuild our economy so it works for working people. To root out systemic racism in our justice system and society. To combat the climate crisis. To unite our country and heal the soul of our nation. The road ahead will not be easy. But America is ready.” - Kamala Harris
I’ve looked at her policy proposals, particularly the economic and health care policies. They’re not perfect, and they will undoubtedly change based on the Congress she gets to work with. But they’re unarguably better for our country than the alternative proposals, which are either atrocious (Project 2025) or laughably sparse (merely “a concept of a plan” for healthcare, after 4 years in the White House and nearly 4 more years since to work out a plan).
That’s not to say that I like every position or policy Harris has put forward. I don’t. I’m still appalled that neither party’s leaders have come out firmly against the atrocities in Gaza. It’s unconscionable. Saying you encourage a ceasefire and two-state solution is fine, but doesn’t go nearly far enough.
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.” - Albert Einstein
Still, we have far better prospects of stopping the genocide in Gaza sooner with Harris. And our chances of avoiding economic and social hell, continued erosion of our courts and rights, and the death by suicide of our democracy, are going to be better with a bluer Congress.
I want my family members - and everyone in this country - to have a steadily-improving democratic republic, fewer systemic barriers to everything they do, and a world view and governments that actively support (rather than fear) equal rights for all.
I have a dear niece in Texas, a mother of two. I’m hoping she’s already tied her tubes or had a hysterectomy, because if she ever has a miscarriage or needs a D&C for another reason, she might not survive the maternal mistreatment that Texas abortion laws are spawning.
I also hope we can get this mess fixed before her young daughter is at risk of getting pregnant or needing gynecological care. But what I really want is for it to be fixed today, across all of the US. Other women and girls are already suffering and dying, and it’s inexcusable. And they shouldn’t have to be related to me for their lives to matter. (And I hope my niece, and all Texas and US women and men who care about them, see this situation clearly and will be voting accordingly to fix it.)
The bottom line
I think the only way we can get back to a reasonable red party, with candidates I can seriously consider voting for in the future, will be if the current party leadership loses BIG - at as many levels as possible.
It’s a positive sign that SO many red party members have crossed party lines to endorse Harris. I know that some ethical people, like my friend , advocated from the inside for years for the R party to return to real values and principles; many have now been pushed out. I’m hoping that widespread red losses in November will enable the ethical conservatives to carve out the current rot and reclaim the core of their party, so we can restore a healthy balance and cooperation in governing.
This needs to happen below the federal level, too. The legislature in my own state, North Carolina, has been nearly locked up by conniving politicians who care more about power and control than they do about democracy and people.
I’m hoping that enough blue seats are won statewide to break the red super-majorities, so we can fix the gerrymandering and align our house and senate better with the overall views of our citizens. And I’m praying that Josh Stein and can win, and mitigate the damage our legislature has been wreaking (and may continue to wreak if the balance in the NC house and senate doesn’t improve).
The outlook
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” - John Adams
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln
Some people fear that it’s too late to stop the demise of our democracy, and it’s already a lost cause. I deeply hope it’s not.
I guess we’ll find out in just a week, when, hopefully, we ALL vote to preserve this democratic republic, and not to hand it over to a fearmongering wanna-be dictator and his cronies. As said much more eloquently than I can, we all deserve better 7 - but we’ll only have a chance to get better if we vote for it.
“The future of the republic is in the hands of the American voter.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Voting is not only our right, it is our power. When we vote, we take back our power to choose, to speak up, and to stand with those who support us and each other.” - Loung Ung
“Voting isn’t the most we can do. But it is the least.” - Gloria Steinem
A personal note
I’ve commented and liked posts and Notes along these lines many times. And people who know me well already know how I feel and what I think (even though some of them don’t agree). But speaking out for myself to the world, to people who only know me through Substack, feels important now.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
Writing this - well, publishing it - feels risky in our highly-polarized environment. But it’s not nearly as unsafe for me as it already is for other folks, or as unsafe as it will be for many more people if this election goes sideways. So here goes. Are you with me?
Credits
Thank you to and for their feedback and encouragement on this article, and huge thanks to everyone who is helping to inform people and get out the vote for this election!
End Notes
There are two main metrics for voter participation: “Voting Age Population” (VAP) and “Voting Eligible Population” (VEP). VAP includes VAP who are not eligible to vote. Reasons for ineligibility could be because they are not US citizens. Also, some states bar people with previous felony convictions from voting. This makes VEP a better measure of participation than VAP.
VEP has been calculated on US election data since 1980. In the 2020 presidential election, the lowest state was Oklahoma at 54.43%; the highest was Minnesota at 79.21%. Overall participation was 65.9%.
This chart based on VAP shows trends by state, and the overall US participation, from 1976 to 2020:
Examples and updates on election-related lawsuits in Georgia, Texas, and other states: “Federal judge halts enforcement of 'water rule' in Georgia's election law”, by The Associated Press, 2023-08-18
“Fact check: Trump repeats debunked lies about FEMA’s hurricane response during North Carolina visit”, by Daniel Dale / CNN, 2024-10-21
“Decision Guides: Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump on the Issues That Matter”, by Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder / US News & World Report, 2024-08-28
Project 2025 website: https://www.project2025.org/ (the policy document is hundreds of pages long). For summaries and insights on Project 2025’s implications, see:
“A Guide to Project 2025”, by Eugene Kiely, D'Angelo Gore, and Robert Farley / FactCheck.org, 2024-09-10
“How Project 2025 Will Ruin Your Life”,
Also see “Agenda47” on Trump’s website (https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47)
“A dramatic rise in pregnant women dying in Texas after abortion ban”, By Erika Edwards, Zinhle Essamuah and Jason Kane / NBC News, 2024-09-21
Oh my, so well written Karen! With you all the way!
Well researched, well written, and well done! Brava for this brave share. As writers in the public eye, we want to stay above the fray. But right now, we cannot in good conscience avoid the very real threat to women's lives and women's agency that this election poses. Thank you.