High stakes, high promise
Should the people rule ourselves? It’s up to us, in about nine days.
The stakes are high in this election. We know the importance of each vote, in part, by how intensely various powers are trying to confuse, mislead, and suppress votes.
Russia publishing fake videos of voting fraud and attacks on Democratic candidates. China trying to hack into the phones of major candidates. Billionaires offering bounties for votes in their favor, posting and reposting the false and misleading information from foreign actors.
Your vote, the votes of your family and friends, your neighbors, your community: it is tempting to say each vote is more important than ever.
But in fact, each vote is always of supreme importance. We did not arrive at this precarious point in the life of our democracy in the last eight years. This showdown between world views has been building for decades, and has always been part of our nation’s story.
Fundamentally, we are choosing whether we believe a small group of powerful people - mostly white, mostly male - should be in charge of the rest of us, making decisions for us, as if they have knowledge, skill, or ability by divine right; or whether we believe in true equality, in the principle that all of us have the right and obligation to join in social life and to be equally protected by the law.
Should the designated few be in charge? Or should the people rule ourselves?
Once that fundamental decision is made, we can set about debating the rest: which social, economic, educational measures help the most people; what is our role in the world; how to provide for our common support and defense.
If we vote in an oligarch, those decisions will be out of our hands. If we vote in a believer in and fighter for democracy, we will continue to have a voice, and opportunities to help our country live up to its promise.
It’s up to us, in about nine days.
