Last week The Daily Northwestern published a guest column by a Medill freshman apparently frustrated with the pace of progressive change over the last few years of Democratic leadership. He aired a litany of grievances from the left, ranging from the war in Afghanistan to the Deepwater Horizon spill. He concluded that the only way dissatisfied liberals could achieve the change they want is by staying home today, Election Day, in silent protest. I get it: sitting on the sidelines can be tempting, especially when times are tough. The frustration with the slow pace of Washington expressed in last week’s column is nothing new to American politics. In fact, politicians in this country have known and exploited this frustration for years. They have been winning votes for decades by earnestly preaching to the choir that Washington is broken. But while our system may be flawed, we’ve been accomplishing significant, if incremental, progress since its inception.
Last week’s guest columnist cited Malcolm X’s famous 1964 speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” in which he called on his followers to “keep your ballot in your pocket.” Malcolm X delivered that address in an era when racial upheaval, poverty and international tension were boiling over. It was also a time when Democrats controlled two-thirds of both houses of Congress. He was understandably livid about the legislative gamesmanship holding back civil rights legislation in the Senate and told his supporters to repudiate the broken system. But just two months after “The Ballot or the Bullet” address, northern Democrats and liberal Republicans dramatically defeated the Senate filibuster and sent the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to President Johnson’s desk. In other words, the political makeup of the Senate and the results of the 1962 midterm elections mattered. The president’s signature on that bill ensured following generations rights that they had been unjustly denied since the founding of this country. Our political system absorbed the explosive civil rights battle, taking it out of the streets and the schools and enshrining racial equality under the law as one of the government’s fundamental commitments to its people. The ballot overcame the bullet.
This election cycle is a far cry from 2008: Dems are not exactly chomping at the bit just to wait in line to exercise their right to vote. I empathize. But this country cannot afford to have smart, reasonable, politically savvy Americans giving up on their federal government before they’re even old enough to exercise that right. As soon as you take your hands off the wheel, you can be certain that someone else will reach in to steer you somewhere you don’t want to go. If every young progressive makes a habit out of keeping that ballot in his or her pocket, those who would exploit our system for personal fame and fortune or something more sinister will be unfettered. The incremental progress we’ve seen over generations will screech to a halt.
In this representative democracy, the only voice we as citizens have in our government is ultimately channeled through the people we elect. Today – Election Day – is the day to make that voice heard. So if you’re registered in Illinois, home to this cycle’s most hotly contested Senate race, vote. If you’re registered in Montana, where there is no Gubernatorial race, no Senate race, and no competitive House race, vote. If you’re a first generation American or your ancestors came over on the Mayflower, if you’re black or white, a disaffected liberal or a fired up conservative, vote. It is, always has been and always will be, too important to do otherwise.
J.D. Bryant is a Weinberg senior. He can be reached at [email protected].