A Grandmother’s Guide To Young Voters

by | Nov 5, 2018 | Art & Life, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Resilience, School Shootings, Science, Technology and the Environment, social justice, Spirtuality, Uncategorized, Women, Girls & the Feminine

“Are you planning to vote?” my husband asked the young woman serving us in a neighborhood restaurant. The blank look on her face gave us the answer before she spoke. She went on to offer, perhaps in her own defense, the fact that none of her friends were voting either.

As I told the young women, and many others that I’ve met since then, we need you. Your country needs you. Picture the iconic image from World War II of Uncle Sam pointing his finger right at you. My generation and those before me have not protected your interests. The reasons you need to get involved include saving the planet you will be living on, doing something about the debt load we are amassing that you will need to make the sacrifices to repay, and we definitely need help finding a way to insuring that the right to life itself is not denied people who happen to gather in a movie house or mall, assemble in their classrooms, or pray in their houses of worship.

I know for many of you, civics classes were not available in your high schools as they were in my day, so one of the failures of my generation has been that you do not understand how important your vote is, or how to determine who to vote for. I offer this guide –

– Follow the Money – One of the biggest messes my generation has made is not doing something about the way political campaigns are funded. Study the candidates and find out who is paying for those ads and flyers and mailings? It’s a basic fact of life that a person works for whoever pays their salary. Look for a candidate that is refusing to take money from lobbying groups and pacs. The teenagers at Stoneman-Douglas were on to something when they looked their representatives in the eye and said, “Are you willing to stop taking money from the NRA?” Find a politician who only accepts donations from individuals, send them a small donation, and they will be working for you.
– Working Across the Isle – Have you wondered why, in the last few years our legislators don’t seem to be able to get anything done? We can trace that difficulty to a time when people began to demand complete loyalty to their cause or party or favorite issue. This has meant that a politician risks his job by cooperating and compromising with people from the other party or point of view. Here’s the news flash – in a democracy cooperating and compromising is how laws get made. Vote for somebody willing to forward progress by respectfully debating different approaches and comingto agreements where no one gets everything they want, but everyone involved gets some of what they want.
– Qualities of a True Leader – Does your candidate treat opponents and other citizens with dignity, kindness, and respect? Imperfect as we are, we are the United States of America. We have stayed united because our founders, and our leaders since, have for the most part resisted demonizing people who disagree with them. Name-calling, bullying, and spreading lies are not behaviors of leadership or strength. Make sure your vote goes to a person who doesn’t just say what their supporters want to hear, but who behaves in a respectful manner to all segments of our country and to our allies around the world.

 

Finally, my message to my own grandchildren and to all the young people in the U.S over the age of 18 – “Just Do It.”

Do it on behalf of your ancestors that weren’t permitted to vote. Do it for the men who did not own property when our country was founded and therefore couldn’t vote. Do it on behalf of your great-grandmothers who didn’t secure the right to vote until 1920. Do it for the African-Americans and their white allies who marched for the right to vote in the 60s. Do it for the thousands of people who fought in both World Wars to secure the freedoms we protect by voting. And do it for all those who came to this country to have a say in how they were governed because voting was not available in their countries of origin.

And here’s one more reason we need you. Your leadership and mastery of social media can get others to the polls, especially people of your generation. Like the Arab Spring, you could create a Democratic Fall to be remembered throughout the ages.

 

 

 

 

TOUGH INTO TRIUMPH

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