Last fall, in November, I determined that I wasn't going to listen to the "conventional wisdom," or accept excuses for doing nothing because "the party in power always loses the mid-term elections." What that usually means is that after making an effort to win a Presidential election, voters decide to handicap the President they elected by putting the other side in control of the legislative agenda. Both of the last two Democrats who have been in the White House were highly successful Presidents, but think about how much more they could have done if they'd have had a favorable Congress through at least three fourths of their two terms.
Democrats need to keep their House and Senate majorities, and expand them if possible, and it is possible. We need to break the filibuster and get things done during the next two years of President Biden's first term. The constitution will not be recognizeable if we don't succeed.
It's up to us, the "rank and file." We need to take the initiative, not wait around for someone else to do something or wring our hands because "the party in power always loses the midterms." We have the power and the ability to win this, and we need to step up and do everything we can to make it happen, especially committing to show up and vote.
I am just one person, but there is plenty that I can do. Prior to the 2020 election, I volunteered with a group to spend two weekends going door to door to get out the vote in suburban neighborhoods in Racine and Kenosha Counties in Wisconsin, just a half hour from my home. Did it make a difference? The Democratic turnout in both counties was up 2% in 2020, and that translates into about 6,000 votes. Biden won Wisconsin by just over 20,000 votes. I don't know exactly how many people we motivted and encouraged to go to the polls but I know we convinced some who were sitting on the fence or who weren't planning to cast a ballot.
I'm involved, already, with "get out the vote" efforts through the DNC website, and two that I found someone posted in a reply on Democratic Underground. I give every month, as much as I can afford, to the Congressional election fund of the DNC. Every now and then, I'll send an additional $20 or so to someone in a key battleground state like Rafael Warnock, or to the Pennsylvania Democratic party for their senate candidate, or to North Carolina Democrats.
I'm on twitter and facebook, where I have more than 500 combined contacts, many of them Republicans and I keep linking all of the factual information I can find. I blog here, for something like 1,400 readers a month, many of those linked to social media contacts as well and I have decided that the themes about which I write and the information I cite will run along the themes of the evidence against Putin-loving Republicans and the effects of Russia's war on Ukraine, on January 6th over and over, on how Trump politics are completely incompatible with Christian beliefs and convincing Evangelicals "on the margins" to get on this side.
I've lost friends and followers on social media because of it, but I don't care. I've made a lot of new ones and I've learned that there are a lot of people who regret supporting Trump in 2020. While they are reluctant about supporting Democrats, the door is open to clear out all the conspiracy theories and false information and provide the truth. When I posted an article from a professor in Oregon who clearly explained that the GOP has everything about CRT, and about education regarding sexual orientation and gender identity completely wrong, I actually got a few responses from people who had their eyes opened.
But I think the biggest job ahead is simply getting voters to the polls. Eighty million people cast ballots for President Biden in 2020 and, given the kind of turnout a midterm election generates, getting about 60% of those people back, voting the same way, will yield a Democratic-controlled Congress for the next two years. I don't know why we can't get 100% of those voters back, since it is pretty clear the Trump administration was a disaster and after January 6th, we know what a GOP majority will do. We can't let that happen.
Anytime you see something here worth sending elsewhere, even if it just annoys your Republican contacts on social media, feel free to link. There's no subscription charge or fee, it's free. I am an amateur but I have training in journalism and in history and political science, so sometimes there might be something worth reading and sharing and it might reach someone who is thinking about staying home on election day, alarm them and get them to the polls.
And join me in the effort. Just go do it, you don't need permission. WE CAN DO THIS!
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