The “mainstream media” continues to hyperventilate over every twitch in every political poll. Polls commissioned by a clown car full of special interests with deep pockets using dubious methodology to nefarious ends. The goal? Keep as many citizens from voting as possible, the story constantly shifting to promote the next supposed disadvantage for the Democratic Party based on whatever crazy talking point the GOP is hawking next. Rinse and repeat until the next breathless pronouncement.
This cynical narrative is transparent to even the most basic of bullshit detectors. Lies easily checked against multiple sources if you possess an ounce of intellectual integrity and an innate human curiosity.
I remain optimistic that most Americans boast both traits and the relentless assault on logic and reason will cause an equal and opposite backlash at the polls. If not this election, then the next one or the one after that. The only predictable feature of our country is a capacity for reinvention by way of an endless river of immigrants coming to our shores. The current fervor on the right notwithstanding, the true character of America can and must reassert itself by way of widespread voting.
I’ve been waiting ten years. Waiting for unlikely voters to show up during a midterm and blow away the status quo. It happened twice, slight bumps in enthusiastic turnout giving the Tea Party control of the GOP.
The latent capacity on the left-side of the political equation is exponential. Unlikely voters are far younger and much more diverse than likely voters from previous generations. We’ve abdicated the fight for decades. It’s not even close. Voters under 40 represent a mere 1/3 of votes cast while being 2/3 of eligible voters. Add in Gen X and we’re talking 3/4 or more of the electorate. Progress stalls when good people do nothing on election day, year after bloody and disappointing year.
Early voting numbers so far are off the charts compared to 2014. The unlikely voter this year appears to be the very citizens who’ve skipped the midterms over the last several decades. The beautiful part is the outsized impact of showing up for primaries and special elections and off-year contests. When turnout is so depressed, small upticks can have dramatic results. The Tea Party proved it during the Obama years. Outpacing and outfoxing the dems at every turn across the country.
What republicans don’t understand (and the media apparently) is the math of their electoral dominance relies on unlikely voters staying home while likely voters become older and whiter and easier to scare.
I’m banking unlikely voters won’t stay home on November 6. Not this time. The stakes are too high.