“We get the leaders we vote for. We get the policies we vote for. And when we don't vote, that's when we wind up with government of, by and for other people." This is part of what Michelle Obama had to tell a gymnasium filled with Nevadans, part of her first rally for When We All Vote, the nonprofit voting initiative she launched over the summer. “While some folks are frustrated and tuned out and staying home on Election Day, trust me, other folks are showing up. Democracy continues with or without you.”
What is she talking about? As a percentage of eligible voters, Hillary Clinton received 28.43% of all votes compared to Donald Trump’s 27.20% and Did Not Vote’s 44.37%. That's more than one hundred million Did Not Votes. Nobody wins in a landslide!
And yes, it would be easy enough to paint a circle around this disparity and say that if one candidate or another had all of those votes that there would have been no contest at all, but that's not how the see-saw works. It seems just as likely that those votes would have been split evenly across a disgusted group of individuals too put off by what hangs in the air currently to go to the polls. People who have given up on the Democratic process. People who would rather watch and be disappointed than participate and potentially be disappointed.
But at least have a horse in the race, right?
“Believe me, I am frustrated, too,” Ms. Obama said. “I am sick of all the chaos and the nastiness of our politics. It’s exhausting and, frankly, it’s depressing. I understand wanting to shut it all out.” She continued: “They’re finding all kinds of ways to keep you at home, hoping that when you hear about all those things, you’ll just give up. Don’t let anybody intimidate you from being a part of this process.”
If nothing else, voting gives us the unalienable right to complain. That's a part of the process that we don't often take the time to fully appreciate.
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