The View from a Drawbridge

The midterm elections are coming up in November, and while the deadlines vary by state it’s most likely not too late for you to register to vote if you haven’t already. You can find out at Vote.gov. These midterm elections are probably the most important midterms we’ve ever had, and we need you to weigh in. People’s lives are at stake.

If it’s your first time voting, and you feel intimidated, you shouldn’t. You have a right to your opinions. No one has a right to pressure you in any way, not a family member, not an employer, no one. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently. You don’t have to tell anyone how you voted. If you wish to participate in primary elections, you must choose a party when you register, but any registered voter, including those registered as independents, can vote in all other elections, and they can vote for anyone they wish, even if that person is not a member of their registered party. If the election is for more than one office, you could theoretically vote for people in several different parties in the same election. It is your choice.

If you are having trouble deciding which party you prefer, don’t just take the word of your friends or family or the things you see on TV. Listen to what the politicians say, and watch what they actually do, and see if their actions match their words. Read as much as you can, including what their critics say about them. Don’t get caught up in fringe, conspiracy theory websites that can’t back up their ideas with actual proof that don’t have dozens of other credible sites that can do the same. More often than not, lone voices are alone for a reason. (Not only was there no sex trafficking ring going on in the basement of that pizza parlor, but the pizza parlor didn’t even have a basement.)

The best way to judge a politician is to fact check them. If they are only spouting opinions, you can’t nail them down on anything. That’s what they are counting on. You can’t trust that. But if they state something as a fact, such as a statistic or a hard number, or a quote, or an event, you can dig into that. Is that really a true number? Did that person really say that thing? Did that thing he said actually occur as described?

But in my opinion, the best way to choose a party in the current political atmosphere, at a time when outrage seems to get the most press, is to determine what the party is outraged about. Are they outraged about things that might outrage you? Or are you horrified by the things that they are angry about? That should give you a good sense of whether or not that party reflects your values.

I know there are multiple parties out there, but unfortunately our country is still a two-party system for all intents and purposes. If you vote for one of the smaller parties, I think all you are doing is throwing your vote away, and/or possibly giving an advantage to the party that has the last person on earth in it that you want to see win. So, quite often, it’s a matter of holding your nose and picking the lesser of two evils. (I know. I’m sorry. I hope your generation figures out a way to change this. But those are the cards you have been dealt right now.) So, I’m going to focus on the Republicans and Democrats in this post.

In a nutshell, Republicans tend to get triggered by threats to tradition and order, threats to national identity, and threats to personal freedoms. Democrats get triggered by injustice and discrimination, abuse of power, and threats to the human rights of vulnerable groups.

Here are a list of some things that each group has traditionally been outraged about. Read this list and see which one resonates most with you. I hope that this will help you decide which party to choose when you register to vote. But please understand that this is just one tool. I hope you will do as much homework as possible on the subject. Voting is one of the most important things you can do. I think it is becoming increasingly clear how much every vote can count. I can’t and won’t tell you how to vote, but I urge you to do so. Thank you.