The Pew Research Center did an interesting study on why so many (tens of millions) registered voters did not vote in the 2016 election. As you can see from the chart below, the single biggest treason was a dislike of candidates or campaign issues.
I was not excited about either candidate myself. However, it was also impossible for me to understand why anybody would find Trump appealing. So when I repeatedly heard people say, “there is no way he can win,” I was tempted to believe it.
But then I saw how so many people believed his lies and seemed to feed almost ecstatically on his fascist rhetoric, and it scared me. Because I also realized that failing to vote meant increasing the chances that someone truly dangerous might become president. And indeed, that is what happened. (I also tuned in to FOX a few times, which scared the bejesus out of me.)
My 60+ years of living have taught me many things, but the most significant is the importance of advocating for ourselves.
So, to me, sitting out an election is a bit like believing the doctor who tells you you’re okay because a few standard tests don’t tell him exactly what’s wrong with you.
When you don’t feel good, there is a reason. If you don’t know what it is, look deeper — don’t resign yourself to it because someone with a degree has chosen to dismiss you.
Solutions come when you understand the problem
Complex problems require developing solutions through trial and error. Theories alone won’t cut it. As a former operations analyst and change manager in a high-tech company, I can tell you that pointing fingers at people is never the answer. Nor is ignoring reality or wiping out entire systems so you don’t have to deal with existing problems.
The old school methodology of destroying everything so you can start over with a clean slate has far too many painful consequences for far too many people — as we learned during the 70s and 80s when economic advisors from elite American academia chose to use “developing” nations as laboratories for their inane theory that destroying a country and its culture and installing free-markets would somehow miraculously lead to democracy.
It didn’t.
It did lead to horrific abuses of low-income people, the torture and murder of democratic activists, and years of desperation for millions — but it didn’t create the fairytale the proponents of this strategy promised. (For all the gory details, you can read Naomi Klein’s, The Shock Doctrine.)
We have a unique opportunity to reinvent “politics as usual”
Today, we have a unique opportunity to reinvent our political system. It’s unique, partly because of the trauma we all experienced during COVID. At a time when leadership and a deep appreciation for science and the consequences of ignoring it were critical, we had a president who thought drinking bleach might be the answer.
Granted, none of us expected COVID (well, actually, Laurie Garrett wrote a book, The Coming Plague, that pretty much spelled it out, but if people don’t have the time to vote — as 14% of registered non-voters claimed in 2016 — how many are going to read a 600+ page book on deadly bacteria and viruses?)
When COVID hit, the failure of our president to study the situation and take swift and effective action has been estimated to have cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Leadership in high places dictates the quality of our lives. We know that now in a visceral way many of us never acknowledged before.
Our government has real power over the quality of our lives
For many years it felt like democracy took care of itself. There was a consensus (or so it seemed) that people were becoming more open, tolerant, and willing to accept others — regardless of gender, race, economic status, etc.
What many of us didn’t see coming was the extreme anger and resentment that could be triggered when a person with status and charisma tells people who are struggling that he knows why they are disgruntled and it’s someone else’s fault. It’s a compelling argument for anybody feeling helpless. Why blame yourself when you can blame the Black man or the Jew or the woman or the gay guy?
When someone who seems to be the epitome of financial success tells you some “other” group of people has taken what’s rightfully yours, that’s much easier to stomach than being told you need an attitude adjustment.
If you put a whole bunch of people in a room and tell all of them this myth, and everyone around you is eager to believe it, too, you have the makings of a cult. Once that connection is made, it’s mighty hard to break.
Diffusion of responsibility creates dangerous behavior
So when the leadership of our country, and the legislatures in our states, are filled with people who point fingers and fire up their base with hateful rhetoric and “us and them” scenarios, it creates a bubble that’s almost impossible to penetrate. Reason goes out the proverbial window, and what’s left is a wave of righteous anger that can only be satisfied by violence.
When an entire group of people feels justified in committing violent actions because their leaders sanction it and the rest of the group is complicit, you get something called diffusion of responsibility.
The diffusion of responsibility for alleged war crimes during World War II was famously used as a legal defense by many of the Nazis being tried at Nuremberg. A similar defense was mounted by the defendants accused in the My Lai massacre. Because of the displacement of responsibility, they did not feel the personal responsibility to help or at least not harm victims, but they felt like they were just following orders, and they did not feel responsible or guilty for their own actions. They blamed those telling them to carry out the orders rather than blaming themselves for the atrocities they had committed. — Wikepedia
Where we are now and what we can do about it
None of us know what will happen now that Donald Trump has been indicted. However, we know that his continued insistence that he’s being unfairly targeted is motivating an increase in violent online rhetoric.
Unfortunately, the bigger problem is Republican leaders in Congress, who see this battle as a way to gin up the base. Rather than address facts, which show Trump has committed multiple crimes over many years — before, during, and since his presidency — those tasked with protecting and defending democracy have chosen to sacrifice democracy to remain in power.
This is not a policy issue. It’s not about liberals vs. conservatives. It’s not even about Republicans vs. Democrats. It’s about fact vs. fiction, democracy vs. authoritarianism, and solutions vs. violence.
The answer to this unstable and unhealthy situation is to demand that candidates running for office are fully transparent about their agendas. When a politician tells us he’s for “freedom,” but his policies take our freedom from us (like banning the right to reproductive healthcare, as just one example), we need to replace that politician with someone whose actions match his rhetoric.
How else will we ever solve anything?
Vetting candidates for honesty, transparency, and values is key
I’m not a fan of politics. But I am interested in what’s happening in the world, and unfortunately, politics has taken center stage recently. It’s become apparent that when we allow liars and manipulators to obtain powerful positions, it is impossible to address the issues affecting Americans daily — like healthcare, housing, food deserts, etc.
If the disgruntled and resentful people who love Trump and hate the rest of us could find meaningful work, obtain medical care adequate to their needs, and find affordable housing and healthy food, perhaps the need to target the “other” would subside.
There is only one way to find out. That is to vet candidates for their commitment to us — not the rabid base of haters that makes up a minority of Americans — but the majority of the country, who want to live and let live without fear of becoming destitute or crippled from lack of resources.
How do you find the right people to take the lead?
We need a system. We need a well-designed pathway to sanity. There is a group of people working on this. It’s not just hype. One of the leaders of this group is former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. He co-wrote an Op-ed for the Washington Post that outlines what they are doing and why they are doing it.
In short, they are forming a new political party. And they need more members to qualify for the same campaign funding and political access currently available to Republicans and Democrats.
If the current two-party system adequately represented the majority of Americans, we would not have lost our reproductive freedom — something the majority of Americans have taken for granted for over 50 years. If the current system were working, we would not have had a president whose goal was to divide rather than unite us.
This new party is about bringing us together to solve the problems of modern democracy and to listen to the people — not the minority of angry, disgruntled people whose only answer is physical violence, but the sane people of America — people who want freedom — not the illusion of it pushed by a demagogue filled with ignorance and hate.
That’s why we’re proposing the first “open” party. Americans of all stripes — Democrats, Republicans and independents — are invited to be a part of the process, without abandoning their existing political affiliations, by joining us to discuss building an optimistic and inclusive home for the politically homeless majority.
Our merged organizations are just the starting point, the launchpad for this movement. We are planning liftoff at a national convention next summer and will soon seek state-by-state ballot access to run candidates in 2024 and beyond. We are actively recruiting former U.S. representatives, governors, entrepreneurs, top political operatives and community leaders to make it happen.
America’s founders warned about the dangers of a two-party system. Today, we’re living with the dire consequences. Giving Americans more choices is important not just for restoring civility. Our lives, our livelihoods and our way of life depend on it.
If this message resonates with you, there is something you can do now. Join a new party — one that is committed to you.
More on the Common Sense Party and FORWARD
This is a new enterprise, and as such, it will change as it grows. For example, what started as FORWARD has now been renamed the Common Sense Party, but only in California. That’s because, in California, FORWARD has been joined by other groups to create an alliance that currently does not exist in other states.
The Common Sense Party and FORWARD have the same commitment to the principles of democracy: transparency, inclusiveness, honesty, and fairness.
As you consider your options as a voter, please keep in mind that until we reach enough people, the new party won’t qualify for the same funding options available to the two leading parties. The good news is that as more people join this movement and we achieve the necessary numbers, nothing can stop us.
That’s the beauty of our democratic system. If we choose to participate, we can regain our power. If we don’t, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Final Note: In California, we have an urgent goal of obtaining 73,000 members by October of this year. This will give us the legal status of an official political party and enable us to participate fully in the 2024 election cycle — so it’s crucial.
Please join us. We need you.
Common Sense Party Registration for California registered voters.
If you don’t live in California, you can still join FORWARD, which is active nationwide.
Just click this link: FWD Find Your State
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