To Vote or Not to Vote: Politics in Process

I was accused of believing in fairy tales this weekend. In one of those front porch conversations that generally pass through a couple of beers and winds around through the weather and generally touches on sociology, literature, and politics, if briefly, I got myself into a debate with someone determined to convince me that voting was a futile act—a useless gesture in a failing political system. Clearly, my friend argued, one person and one vote isn’t going to change or affect American politics. And I was labeled as naïve for believing one vote could make a difference.

The thing is, I don’t believe one vote makes a difference. But I do think that the general sentiment among people that they shouldn’t bother to vote because one vote doesn’t make a difference does make a difference.

When people reject the political system and refuse to vote, it’s often the rejection of participating in what they know to be a fantasy. American politics aren’t run by one vote or one person—even the President looks to a panel and, occasionally, to the Congress. But politics does very much hinge on votes. On people. On groups of people who consent to participate in the system as a group.

In that sense, I think Arthur Bentley’s The Process of Government is absolutely correct in its assessment of how the political system in America works. The policies in power are determined by the groups in power, or at least the groups capable of getting access to the ears of the powerful. The Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Suffrage, and Child Labor Reform are three historical examples of groups gaining enough sway to change laws in America; campaigns for gay rights, immigrant and refugee rights, and equal pay for equal work are three contemporary groups engaged in the battle to get legislation to recognize or protect their interest group.

And generally, media attention helps those groups get their message through to legislators. In “Home Before Sundown,” which was printed in The Feminist Memoir Project, the writer, Anselma Dell’Olio discusses how the feminist movement in the 1960’s started to gather speed and support when it started to receive press coverage. A few publicity stunts, and women were on their way to carving a place for themselves in the workplace.

Lifetime Network is running a campaign this year to motivate women to vote—the “Every Woman Counts” campaign. But the point isn’t that every single woman’s vote counts. The point is that women, when they get together to generate a political movement, still have as much power to enact change as they did when they forced the 19th amendment through Congress. And the first message, which has been appearing in publications like Redbook, Marie Claire, and Cosmo girl!, is to “join the Every Woman Counts Coalition”—join the group to make your individual voice represented.

The American political structure relies on a press that identifies and chases down the movements that are collecting more people to their causes and opening that message up to a broader audience—preferably one that includes legislators. But it also returns the favor of giving publicity to organizations that might not otherwise be able to advertise themselves to attract new members. Lifetime Network has a generous advertising budget. The Iraq Veterans Against the War does not. Which means those Iraq Vets depend on coverage from press organizations and the generosity and interest of individuals capable of investing in their cause, like Rage Against the Machine’s recent free concert, which was designed largely to draw a big crowd and educate them all on how to work for peace and an end to the war.

So no, I don’t believe in fairy tales, but I do believe in a press that can put the power back into the hands of the people by giving groups a chance to make their voice heard, whether that’s through newspaper article, a spot on the five o’clock news, a sound byte that runs on a radio talk show, or a blog entry. The press hands the microphone over to the protestor, or the group leader, or the spokesperson, and let’s that voice be heard, because a democracy doesn’t happen because a single person has an idea. A democracy is built on group support, on collective thought and effort, and on partnership. The press is meant to deliver the information that this group exists, that there’s interest in this cause, to other individuals who would be willing to participation in that group, and they do this without consideration for what that group has on hand for an advertising budget.