Your vote counts
September 8, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback
Be warned. Instead of talking about green living, I am going to tread into a controversial political discussion this week. I’ve never talked about politics openly because I don’t believe one’s political view necessarily impacts her/his daily actions. However collectively political views lead to electing certain political parties and their leaders into the offices, which in turn bring about different government policies, including environmental policies.
So it’s time for me to explain why I am going to spend more time volunteering in this year’s election than on this blog.
My sister-in-law is a one-issue voter. I take it back; she is a two-issue voter: abortion and gay marriage. We spoke about the election this weekend and her position had not changed from four years ago or eight years ago. She will vote for anyone who is more likely to enable the overturn of Roe v Wade and less likely to grant gay marriage right. I love her because she is kind and generous. But for the life of me I do not understand why these two issues are above and beyond anything else that are far more urgent and critical, at least in my mind.
I finally saw her perspective during our conversation this weekend. First of all, she feels that the political stuff, economic stuff and foreign affairs stuff are too complex for her to take a clear stand on, but she knows exactly what she stands with abortion and gay marriage. Secondly she believes in an absolute morality, which prevents her from voting anyone who differs on those two issues even if they agree on everything else.
I still did not understand. But…
I thought about own political leaning. I will never be able to bring myself to vote for any one or any party that denies global warming and does not take environmental issues seriously. The crazed chant “drill baby drill” all the way from Wisconsin immediately sent chills down my spine and lost my vote.
I guess to a large degree I am a one-issue voter too – a green hurdle a candidate must clear to win my vote.
Truth be told, it is a luxury for both my sister-in-law and I to be one-issue voters. We have comfortable homes that have not been lost in the mortgage meltdown, financial security even though the unemployment just hit 6.2%, and adequate health care that is denied to millions of Americans.
I, as one of the APLS, can afford to vote on my environmental issue.
Luckily, I have found a presidential candidate with whom I agree with on most issues, including the economic strategies, foreign policies, health care reform, and energy solutions. Yes, I am still a one-issue voter, but by coincidence, I get to vote for a number of other important issues.
I’ve always maintained that to enable the path to sustainability, we need to work on three fronts simultaneously: voluntary actions by us, technological innovations and government policies that encourage the former two.
So, for the next 8 weeks, my focus will not be on the blog, but on doing my share to help my candidate. I don’t have the illusion that voting the right candidate into the office will change everything. But what the last eight years have taught me is that Office of the President can steer the direction of the country, in a big way.
Anyhow, I will still blog about my own day to day green actions, albeit spottily. Most of my spare time will be devoted to volunteering for the campaign.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Comments»
I think what you are seeing in your sister-in-law is some one with a Biblical world view (I’m assuming). The Bible is so clear on those two issues that she isn’t going to compromise on them. On the other hand, the Bible is less clear on what to do about the mortgage crisis, whether we should have a flat or graduated tax code, or exactly how we should protect ourselves from being blackmailed by foreign powers by becoming energy independent.
If you have a Biblical world view, you will understand the immigration issue through the command to be fair to the stranger and alien in you land; you will look at health care through the command to care for the poor; you will look at the issues of just war through the lens of “seek peace and pursue it”. But the specifics in each of those cases are missing, thus allowing for a lot of discussion on how to work that out. The specifics are not missing when the Bible talks about abortion and gay marriage. So, it’s pretty much impossible for someone with a Biblical world view to compromise there.
I don’t know your sister-in-law. She may indeed not care at all about the economy or the environment. An awful lot of people who agree with her on her two issues also care about those other things and think alot about how best to tackle them. After the last election, a few people in the press implied that the red staters were all stupid and ignorant, and you know, that just didn’t go over real well around here. I would guess they were the same people who felt so free to brutalize one of the candidate’s families last week. I know you are not that kind of person at all, but it explains part of the bump the Republican party got in the last few days. I hope thoughtful people will avoid labeling those who disagree with them “bitter people who cling to their guns and religion”.
I’m glad you are taking your citizenship seriously and working for the candiddate you most want to see win. More power to you! I just hope, if you hear some of that kind of garbage being said, you’ll stand against it. It doesn’t do anyone any good. We’ll get more done if we are respectful in our disagreement, as you seem to be.
Good for you, Cindy. You are right. The results of this election will affect our future in a very big way.
Joyce raises a good point - and frankly one that scares me all the more. “I hope thoughtful people will avoid labeling those who disagree with them ‘bitter people who cling to their guns and religion’.” That means that there are some pretty big hurdles to overcome.
Joyce: Thank you for the excellent clarification about the biblical world view. I think it is very unfortunate that the press or other people call people stupid or bitter. It achieves no purpose other than angering people. And I whole-heartedly agree that families are off-limits in political campaigns. Unfortunately it seems that families (from both parties) have always been dragged into the limelight in and out the campaigns. Perhaps it says something about our scandal and celebrity craving culture.
I actually don’t believe in changing other people’s views. My focus is more about providing the right information, so people can decide on their own and encourage people to vote regardless which political affiliations they have.
GB: Yes, there are so many hurdles to overcome. I have never volunteered in any political campaigns before. In fact, I hardly ever voted
But doing the green blog definitely made me realize that government policies are very critical in shaping our green future - energy, water, and jobs.
Providing information and encouraging people to vote-that’s exactly what we need! We want well-informed and active citizens. Then we’ll get the government and policy that truly reflects what the majority believe.
The problem here is, that neither candidate is a *good* choice for our environmental problems. Obama just visited our area this week, and spoke of “clean coal”, which is a greenwashed term. The word isn’t getting out about how big of a lie this is, and the whole country is rallying around it. I don’t like either choice, for many reasons, and the environmental issues are just not tackled under Obama or McCain. Obama is definately the less of 2 evils when it comes to environmental issues, but when are we going to stop voting for the less of 2, and vote for who we truly believe in? I just wrote on this topic, and Obama’s use of “clean coal” greenwashing in his town hall meeting here this week.
Mama: thanks for the information. The more we learn about real issues, the more informed our votes are. Good point about lessor of the two evil.
I have a very programatic view on political progress - it’s not possible to have an overnight change. We need to take small steps to get to our ultimate goal. It tries our utter patience, yet to me, it is the only way to get to the goal, absent of any paradigm shifting disasters or miracles.
Thank you so much for this post. To my dismay, I have been having the same conversation with some of my friends and family members.
In my mind, there are so many important issues to consider. Like our failing economy, the disaster of American health and the lack of affordable health care, etc. I cannot fathom why someone would ignore all the other issues and focus only on one or two — especially when one of these issues (gay marriage) may have absolutely NO impact on them. (How is it any of your business if a gay person chooses to marry?)
I read an article in the New Yorker magazine recently that really helped me understand why so many people today are narrowly focused on these cultural issues like abortion and gay rights.
The article was about how working class and middle class people have defected from the Democratic party and have been defecting to the right wing Republican camp. The author questioned why they vote Republican — when it is not in their best interest economically.
The article referred to a book called “What’s the Matter with Kansas” by historian Thomas Frank.
An excerpt from the book’s Wikipedia page:
“In the book, Frank examines what he calls “The Great Backlash”, which he describes as a reactionary movement against the cultural changes of the 1960s and 1970s. According to his analysis, the political discourse of recent decades has dramatically shifted from the class animus of traditional leftism to one in which “explosive” cultural issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, are used to redirect anger towards “liberal elites”.
Against this backdrop, Frank describes the rise of conservatism and the so-called far right in the social and political landscape of Kansas. He finds extraordinary irony in working-class Kansans’ overwhelming support for Republican politicians, despite his belief that the economic policies of the Republican party are wreaking havoc on their communities and livelihoods for the benefit of the extremely wealthy. Meanwhile, he says, the party fails to deliver on the “moral” issues (such as abortion and gay rights) which brought the support of cultural conservatives in the first place — deepening a cycle of frustration aimed at cultural liberalism.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What’s_the_Matter_with_Kansas
Ah — here is the article from the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/13/081013fa_fact_packer?currentPage=all
Ann Marie
PS: I just found your blog and I really love it! Going to add you to my blog roll…
Ann Marie: thanks for stopping by.
I live in California and whenever I see Yes on Prop 8 yard signs, I get really frustrated. Prop 8 is seeking to overturn the court ruling on gay marriage (in CA, gay marriage is legally recognized).
$29 million have been raised to advertise for banning gay marriage while $32 million have been raised for keeping gay marriage legal. Those are the $61 millions not spent on caring for the poor, on providing health care for children, on improving air and water quality.
My guess is that people are afraid of changes. If gay people can get married, horrible things may happen to our society at large. Not too long ago, the same fear mobilized people against interracial marriages. Did it really damage our society?