Get Out There, Get Active

Your weekly excerpt from one of my books. This week: "The Hidden History of the War on Voting"

The Republican War against your right to vote. Over the next few months the entire book will be here, new chapters posted every Sunday, for subscribers to read at no cost. If you want to get a physical book to mark up or share with others, just click on the picture above, visit your local bookstore, or check your favorite online seller.

Get Out There, Get Active

Some readers may despair, seeing the figures in this book and learning how billionaires and the Republicans have disenfranchised millions. Although the solutions here have focused on fundamental ways that we can restore the vote and strengthen our democracy, most change happens locally.

Individuals can help every step of the way—from asking neighbors whether they are registered to driving neighbors to the polls and acting as a poll watcher.

The situation will not change without Americans participating. No individual politician will change the trend toward oligarchy. The seeds for change in American politics are scattered in towns, boroughs, and counties across the country.

The power of money in politics diminishes as Americans create more local people-powered coalitions to exert positive pressure for popular local issues. As one of the first campaign ads for Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, declared, “They’ve got money, we’ve got people.”

Finally, the truly exceptional part of American exceptionalism is that our country was birthed not in genetics or national identity but out of the egalitarian ideals of the Enlightenment. Imperfectly implemented and acted out as those principles have been, particularly in our first hundred years, we’ve moved over the centuries toward a better and better expression of them.

The past 40 years or so have seen backward movement in the ability of our government to respond to the desires of most Americans, while that same majority is outspoken about wanting more transparent, more accountable, and more representative governance.

Our voting system is a product of some of the best ideas of the 18th century. In the 21st century, we have in our hands the ability to bring it more fully in line with the Lockean and Jeffersonian ideals and create “a more perfect union.”

Tag, you’re it.