Editorial rights purchased from iStock. Photo by Bulat Silvia.
I’m not a fan of absolutes, but I feel it is appropriate in this case. Despite the temptation to believe the worst, it never helps. Worst-case scenarios lend themselves to hopelessness. Hopelessness leads to apathy, and apathy leads to inaction.
Why bother voting? Everyone in government is corrupt. Trump will never suffer the consequences of his actions. Democracy is dead.
I read these sentences almost every day on Medium. I believe I understand the frustration behind them. I feel it too.
But let me ask you this: if your child was bullied at school or was in an accident and broke a bone, what would you say to that child? Would you say, for example, “Bullies are everywhere; you’ll never escape them.” Or, “Remember how this hurts because this won’t be the first bone you’ll break”?
No, you would tell your child that it will get better no matter how painful the situation is now. And you would actively try to make things better for them. You would probably also go to the school to encourage teachers to stop the bullying. You might even talk to the bully’s parents.
If your child had a broken arm, you would take your child to the doctor to get the necessary treatment so the bone would heal properly. In addition, you would consider how the accident occurred and would seek ways to prevent a similar injury in the future.
It’s up to us to make things better
I realize we’re not children. But we’ve all been wounded by recent events. And despite those wounds, it is up to us to make things better. Democracies do not simply flourish when citizens participate; they require citizens to participate.
We are where we are today because too many failed to participate in our system of government. I can’t count the number of times I heard intelligent, well-meaning people justify the decision to opt-out of voting in the 2016 election. Over and over, I heard people say, “Trump doesn’t stand a chance — we don’t need to vote — he can’t possibly win.”
Likewise, we were asleep at the wheel when Trump appointed a slew of right-wing judges to lifetime appointments. Our elected representatives also failed to prevent the appointment of Trump’s SCOTUS nominees, despite all evidence suggesting they would do exactly what they’ve done. It was easier to believe their lies about honoring precedent during the confirmation process than it would have been to stand up for women’s rights and refuse to allow religious zealots on the court.
Congress failed us by allowing the likes of Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neill Gorsuch to receive lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. But we have the power to replace members of Congress.
SCOTUS has also failed to protect voters’ rights. But a democratic Congress can reinstate those rights.
The solution to this problem isn’t to make pronouncements that create a sense of hopelessness. The solution is to encourage people to become more involved.
The recent phenomenon of doom scrolling makes it even harder for people to become motivated and engage.
When I logged onto Medium this morning, a recent article by Caren White caught my eye. And it pissed me off. White makes a bold statement in the title of her latest piece, but it is an assumption — and an incorrect one, in my opinion.
The memo White refers to in her article, initially written by former Attorney General Barr, states that the DOJ will not interfere with elections by announcing indictments during an election season. It says nothing about whether an indictment will occur.
White is not the only one who has cited this memo to declare that the DOJ will not indict Trump soon. Rachel Maddow made a similar assumption and delivered a scathing segment about it on her show.
In my opinion, both are spreading disinformation that only serves to aggravate an already aggravated public.
Don’t forget how James Comey’s statement about Clinton affected the 2016 election
The DOJ does not hold press conferences to discuss ongoing investigations. This has always been the case. There was such an uproar over Comey’s announcement, just days before the 2016 election, because Comey broke that rule for the first time.
Many, including me, believe this single act on Comey’s part may have made the difference between a Clinton victory and a Trump victory. Yet Ms. White and Ms. Maddow would lead us to believe that a policy designed to prevent such a debacle in the future is problematic. They also assume the memo tells us something it doesn’t: that Trump will not be indicted before the midterms.
The Barr memo, reinforced by AG Garland, does not tell us Trump will not be indicted before the midterms — it merely tells us we probably won’t hear about it from the Justice Department.
We should be pleased that Garland will not use his power as attorney general to influence upcoming elections. We should also remember that just two days ago, AG Garland reiterated his pledge from earlier this year to follow the facts in the investigation of the events on January 6 and indict whoever the evidence points to, regardless of who the person is.
“‘We do not do our investigations in public. This is the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into…We have to get this right.” When asked about the possibility of charging a former president related to January 6th, Garland says, ‘No person is above the law in this country.’”
Keep in mind as well that Trump is not running in the midterms. This policy was designed to protect those participating in upcoming elections. 2024 is far enough away that we have reason to question whether this policy will have any effect on a future Trump indictment.
I realize absolutes are tempting, and writers love titles that attract attention. But at a point in our country’s history when voter participation will make the difference between keeping our democracy and losing it, we must resist the temptation to resort to assumptions.
Voting in local elections is critical
Historically, presidential races have had higher voter turnout than local elections. But the president doesn’t write our laws — our state representatives do. Even federal laws are passed by members of Congress, elected by the constituents in their respective states. The president may have veto power, but he can’t create laws, only our elected representatives can do that.
Let’s also not forget that state officials were responsible for working with Trump to provide the fake electors who tried to overturn a free and fair election in 2020. If we want to protect ourselves from a future insurrection, we need to be more attentive to the quality of people we elect to positions of power at the state level.
State officials are also responsible for the abortion bans that have taken away the rights of millions of women. Yes, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. However, that would have changed nothing if state governments had not subsequently enacted abortion bans within their states.
When facing an uphill battle, walk uphill
Yes, there is gerrymandering. Yes, Republicans are doing everything they can to disenfranchise people of color, but remember this: There are more of us than there are of them. If we care about democracy in America, we need to promote solutions, not encourage hopelessness.
We can win this. But only if we don’t give up.