Midterm Election Day- What About Tomorrow?

Today is the day!

Today are the midterm elections. Around the US, it is being met with hope, anger, anxiety, fear and apathy.

I’m not going to bother talking about Republican candidates. We know what to expect of Republicans. We have no expectation, belief or hope that they will move left or give a single thought to what is best for the people of this country.

Anyone who has read anything I write knows I am against both parties. However, I live in AL. If you saw the ballot here, there is no such thing as an Independent or Green candidate to be found. So anyone with a drop of Progressive blood in them has no choice but to vote Democrat and hope for the best.

The DNC is supposed to be the party of the people. Yet they have illustrated quite clearly for many years they are just as corporate as Republicans. Sometimes even more so. Therein lies our biggest problem.

If the Democrats had moved left in 2016, they would already have a majority. If they had moved left on their policies for the last two years, their majority at the end of today would be set in stone. They haven’t and that is why the results of today’s elections are even in question.

I expect the majority of voters to sit today out. Too demoralized to believe anything will change, no matter who gains the majority today.

In the end, it doesn’t matter who wins today. What matters is what we do, today and every day. Whether the Democrats are a majority tomorrow or not, they need to be forced by us to move left. We need to hold their feet to the fire. We need to be demanding town hall meetings. We need to hold elected officials of any party accountable. We need to write, call, march, rally, speak out, speak up.

The move leftward does not have to be for a presidential race. It can very well be at the local and state level and move upward. It would truly work best that way. Use Progressive-dominant city and state governments as test cases to illustrate that Progressive policies are vastly superior to centrist and right wing policies.

We can start with grass roots movements for publicly funded elections. At the state level, elections could be well funded with a sales tax increase of 0.25% rounded upward. Meaning that you pay an extra penny for every $4 you spend. Here in AL, the sales tax is 10%. So, for a $4 sale, instead of $4.04, you would pay $4.05. Then eliminate all private donations. Elected officials would be able to spend their time working on policies, meeting with real people. They would not be whoring themselves out for campaign money or making backroom deals in exchange for that money. That money would fund multiple parties, not just two.

Term limits are something else that do not have to be determined federally. Each state could establish term limits for their CONgressional elected officials. There is nothing in the Constitution which says otherwise.

Those two policies alone would virtually insure having elected officials that represent the people, not corporate owners. Officials who would be more likely to work toward policies that are effective and truly acted upon, rather than pushing policies back to use as campaign promises for the next election and the next and the next. They could run for higher offices and be seen for what they did or did not do in lower offices. Voters would vote based on past results rather than rhetoric.

Of course, that would mean having an electorate that pays attention to results, rather than words.

Honestly, at this point, I’m not hoping for much, no matter who wins today. I will vote, absolutely. I do not believe anyone has the right to complain if they do not take part in the system. Though my efforts will not cease, either. Not after this election or any other. It takes more than voting every 2 or 4 years to change anything.

There is only ONE “them” in this country and that is the oligarchy. WAR Street. The ones who wage war for their own profit. The ones who own the media which misleads us. The ones that divide us and turn us against each other as a diversion. The ones that cause most of the pain, poverty, untreated illness, hunger, homelessness, hopelessness, depression, desperation, anxiety, anger, poisoned air and water and fraudulent elections.

Until we stop attacking each other and stand together, we have no chance of changing anything. We must be informed, educated, educate each other, support each other (including immigrants and refugees, which most of our families were at some point), care about each other.

Vote for whomever you choose today. It’s what you do tomorrow that counts.