Why We Vote
The Fight for Our Rights Continues
Issue #189 OpEd December 5, 2022
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Here is today’s article:
On this Substack, we constantly talk about the importance of voting. Today, Monday, December 5, 2022, is the day before the Senate runoff election in Georgia between Senator Raphael Warnock and Hershel Walker. This will be the 4th time Rev. Warnock has run for election in the last two years.
The reason there has to be a runoff again is because of the rules of elections in Georgia that were codified decades ago to keep Black people from winning: a candidate has to have over 50% of the vote in the general election to win. Rev. Warnock had 49.6%.
Many people in Georgia now voting in this runoff said they did not vote in the general because they assumed that Warnock would win. He may still lose his reelection bid on December 6, 2022.
We cannot take anything for granted these days.
The Importance of Voting Since 2010
The turnout for Barack Obama in 2008 was off the charts. Not only did Obama run on “hope,” but of course, he was running to be the first Black President of the United States. He won overwhelmingly against Senator John McCain, who conceded graciously.
The Democrats also controlled both the House and Senate from 2009-2011, and with Nancy Pelosi’s help, Obama passed his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act.
In the 2010 midterms, however, many people, who were “mad” that Obama did not take care of their pet issue within his first year in office sat out the midterms, and Obama, in his words, received a “drubbing,” losing the House and the Senate to “Tea Party” Republicans.
In 2012, President Obama won a 2nd term, besting the-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who also graciously conceded. The Democrats also won the Senate, although the House stayed in Republican control for the 113th Congress.
Donald Trump lost the popular vote but narrowly won the Electoral College in 2016. Many blame the loss of Hillary Clinton on a slew of lies, bogus investigations, and misinformation by the Republicans and by the Russians. Too many people believed that Trump “wouldn’t be that bad” and/or that Hillary was worse and a “warmonger.”
In 2018, the Republicans lost the House, and Nancy Pelosi again rose to Speaker of the House.
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was Senate Majority Leader and Trump was able to appoint three justices to the Supreme Court, including Amy Conant Barrett who was quickly nominated and approved by the Senate after the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and even though voting had already begun for the 2020 elections.
We know what happened with Trump after the 2020 elections, although the Democrats won the presidency, the House, and the Senate.
In 2022, the Democrats narrowly lost the House but retained the majority in the Senate with 50 or 51 seats (depending on the outcome of the Georgia runoff).
State and Local Elections also matter
There are more state legislatures controlled by Republicans than by Democrats at this time.
As we know, the Republicans don’t really have any policies to run on. They don’t “govern,” they just spend time on grievance politics and on taking rights away from citizens.
In the Republican-held state legislatures, they are using voter suppression and anti-LGBT, anti-government, anti-gun control, and anti-anything that actually benefits the American people.
We were lucky in that all of the election deniers who were running in state elections, especially for governor and Secretary of State, lost.
In Florida, members of the State Board of Education who were appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis, have started firing teachers who they feel aren’t adhering to DeSantis’ “anti-woke” curriculum.
In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin has decided that there will be no mention of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in grades 1-5 and that the only non-North American continent that should be studied is Europe. He does not want students to learn about Africa or Asia.
All over the country, books by or about Black people and LGBT people are being banned.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning last week to the Black Community, the LGBT Community, and the Jewish Community to be watchful for credible threats over the next weeks and months.
In North Carolina over the weekend, someone deliberately shot out an electrical substation because it was believed that the substation serviced a building where a drag show was being held.
100,000 people in North Carolina will be without power for a week.
Donald Trump has declared that the Constitution must be terminated so that he can be put back into power. Only one Republican who will be in office in 2023 - Rep. Michael Turner from Ohio - has spoken out forcefully against this. The fact that terminating the Constitution will not happen is not the point.
The MAGA fascists will not stop until they overturn the United States government by any means necessary and the Republicans are doing nothing to stop them.
What does all of this mean?
As tiring as it gets to receive countless emails and texts for financial support and reminders to vote during election season (which never seems to end), we must remain vigilant about what our elected representatives are doing.
We, the people are supposed to choose our representatives, not the other way around.
They work for us, not the other way around.
Who’s running for your school board? Who’s running for your City Council?
Who’s running for your state legislatures?
Who’s running for your mayors and governors?
Who’s running for your House and Senate seats?
Most people really only pay attention during presidential elections, and while those are important, your local elections are even more important.
We must remain vigilant and we must vote in every election.
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