It’s Time to Fight Back and Take the Occupy Movement to the Ballot Box

by Sheila Musaji

In the 2008 Presidential Election, only 56.8% of eligible voters actually voted.  There were 231,229,580 eligible voters and only 132,618,580 actually voted.  In the 2010 election the percentage went down to 37.8% who actually voted.  We all know how that turned out as the Congress and Senate were hopelessly gridlocked by the increase in conservative representatives voted in by the 37.8% minority because the Tea Party got out their voters.  (chart of national voter turnout here.)  Because many of us came out to vote in 2008 we got a progressive President, but then we lost focus and didn’t come out to vote in the midterm elections, and effectively tied his hands by allowing so many conservatives to gain office.

Imagine what might happen if every Occupy group across the nation held a voter registration drive and signed people up to vote, and encouraged them to carry through and actually vote in the next election. 

I saw a paraphrase of an old saying that went like this:  “For the want of a vote, a precinct was lost.  For the want of a precinct, a state was lost.  For the want of a state, an election was lost.  For the want of an election, a country was lost.”

We have a right to vote, and also a responsibility to vote.  Low voter turnout allows the current state of affairs to go on.  Politicians only seem to care about the possibility of losing their jobs.

In my personal experience, many of the people who are educated about and passionate about civil rights, the economy, the environment, women’s issues, foreign policy, education, separation of church and state, voting reform, getting corporations out of politics, America’s infrastructure, tax reform, social services, etc. are the very people who don’t vote. 

It would be refreshing to see a huge increase in voters so that we actually saw the will of the majority and not the minority reflected in our choice of elected representatives. 

Think about it for a moment - In the election of 2002 only 39.9 % of eligible voters actually voted, and since the election was close that meant that approximately 20% of eligible voters determined the course of events that this country would take over the next four years.

The corporations have poured huge amounts of money into political campaigns and lobby groups.  But, no matter how much money they spend, it comes down to individual citizens going into the voting booth and voting their conscience.  No matter how much they spend, we could turn this around by actually exercising our right to vote.  If we don’t vote, we are allowing the corporations to win without a fight.

Who put the ineffective and corrupt leaders we currently have in charge?  We can blame the big corporations and lobbyists, but the reality is that no matter how much money they pour into influencing our representatives to work for them and not for the people, we have the possibility of negating and countering that influence by voting out all of those who have been bribed into working against the interests of the people that they are supposed to represent.

Imagine what might be possible if the majority actually determined the next election.  What message would it send our politicians if the next election had a 75%, or 80%, or even 90% turnout.  I think it would let them know that we really are disgusted with the current system and want change now.  It might even make them more afraid of their constituents than they are currently afraid of the big money lobbies.

I hope that every local Occupy group takes this seriously, finds out what is required to set up a voter registration drive in their state, gets copies of the voter registration form available on the Federal Election Commission website (http://www.fec.gov) and gets a huge voter turnout in the next election and those to follow. 

It’s time to find out what would happen if the majority actually used the ballot to control our own destiny!

SEE ALSO:

Barney Frank to Occupy Wall Street: Vote!,  Jenée Desmond-Harris http://www.theroot.com/buzz/barney-frank-occupy-wall-street-vote

It’s time for voters to occupy the ballot box:  The Occupy Wall Street movement spreads across the globe, yet most people don’t bother to vote in civic elections, which affect them most, Bob Ransford   http://www.vancouversun.com/business/time+voters+occupy+ballot/5591874/story.html#ixzz1bcmp6bVW

Protesters must bring message to ballot box to effect change http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-10-13/news/fl-editorial-protest-gs1011-20111013_1_tea-party-protesters-ballot-box 

“We are the 99%,” but the 1% Buy Elections, Reports Show, Brendan Fischer http://www.banksterusa.org/content/we-are-99-1-buy-elections-reports-show