Regarding Elections: 2014 & '16
“If something is yours by right, then fight for it or shut up. If you can’t fight for it, then forget it.”
-- Malcolm X; London School of Economics; February, 1965.
Reading through DU:GD last night, I realized that I had not really made much comment on last week’s elections. In a nut-shell, I view events such as these as temporary set-backs, rather than utter defeats, so long as one learns a lesson from it. Thus, I began considering what quote to use at the top of an essay, to introduce that general theme.
Initially, I thought about Jim Morrison’s infamous rant while on stage in Miami. The old, “What are you gonna do about it?” rallying cry might well be as appropriate today, as Jim’s presentation was deemed inappropriate by the Miami police and court, way back when. But I didn’t want to risk offending DU’s community standards, so I kept my trousers zipped, and thought some more.
The Declaration of Independence came to mind. It is a power document, one that I think that liberals and progressives should read from time to time. In fact, it reminds me of the type of statement of purpose that Malcolm X might have made in his final year of life.
In the two short sentences quoted above, Malcolm says “fight for it” twice. That suggests it is a key point. He doesn’t say that the fight will be easy. Nor does he hint that if you do fight, you will achieve a clear victory. But he makes very clear the reality that if you don’t fight, there is zero chance of making progress, much less winning.
I am confident that very few, if any, members of this forum view last Tuesday as a good day for the Democratic Party. It definitely wasn’t. Some of the democrats who ran for office did not appear to be willing to fight. Rather, they seemed to be running from the fight. But the responsibility for the election outcome does not rest entirely upon the candidates.
Certainly, the cycle of “off year” elections came into play. Equally important is the tension between the progressive/ liberal wing, and the moderate/ conservative wing of the party.The dynamics being what they are, the vast majority of democratic candidates for governor and for the House and Senate were moderate/ conservative. As a result, we didn’t have “dynamic” candidates capable of creating enough “tension” to convince enough potential voters that these contests were important enough -- in the context of their lives -- to vote.
So, if one wants to, they could engage in finger-pointing at a wide range of people who likely bear some portion of the responsibility for the election of so many republicans. “If you didn’t vote, don’t complain” seems a fair statement. But it does not provide the entire answer to the problem, and thus offers no promise of resolving the problem in the future.
I believe it is equally fair to say that too many democratic candidates ran weak campaigns. More, I think the party’s “leaders” promoted too many weak candidates. And that there were too few serious primary challenges, giving voters a real choice. And on and on.
I do think it is important to study other people’s roles in campaigns and elections. And to evaluate how well they accomplish their tasks. Yet at the same time, “democracy” is something that belongs to us as individuals. It’s being stolen, of course, by powerful forces on the national level. And that theft trickles down to the local level, where all too often, jackasses who really aren’t very powerful at all are confident that they have license to steal what belongs to you and I. Now, that annoys me.
I’ve said -- probably several hundred times here on this forum -- that real change can only be accomplished from the grass roots up. But I know that my saying it doesn’t accomplish things. And that I have to fight for what is mine. So there is now two years before the next election cycle allows me to vote.
Between now and then, I’m not going to shut up, nor will I forget about it. I won’t put it on a back-burner, either, allowing it to cool until the next cycle comes around. Instead, I will be active at the grass roots level. I’ll work to register others to vote. Two groups that I will focus on are college students, and the poor. I will work to educate them, on how elections impact their day-to-day lives. And how their becoming active participants in the process translates to power.
I will also be in communication with those who are in positions that allow them to influence which candidates end up running on the democratic ticket -- from the local level right on up.
I want what is mine. And I think that you want what is your’s. So I am asking you to be active in the weeks and months ahead.
Thank you,
H2O Man
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PEACE!
Malcolm had a way with words. He was a master at communicating.
Some of the best parts of the many books I have about Malcolm are found in two that include sections of quotes ("Malcolm X Speaks" and "By Any Means Necessary: Malcolm X"
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