By Mary Bisciaio
Americans are good people. Disregarding the superficial characteristics of race and gender, Americans as a people are basically good. They go to work, raise families, adhere to a moral compass, obey the laws, and take civic responsibility seriously, but in one major way, they are flawed and have been for decades.
They are complacent.
Yes, in general terms, we vote, at least some of us do. In the 2016 election, 138 million Americans cast their votes for president. That is about 58% of the population who were actually eligible to vote and down from 2008 (62%) and 2012 (59%). Yet, even those that make it to the polls are sadly complacent. When the votes are tallied, we return to our lives, nothing much changed, and a dangerous precedent is set. We’ve all heard it.
“All politicians lie and cheat.”
“Politicians make promises, but don’t intend to actually follow through.”
“Doesn’t matter which party. Politicians are all the same.”
“Our elected officials get rich on the backs of their constituents.”
And we have no one to blame but ourselves.
I look back in the sixties. My parents were blue-collar, union workers, and Democrats. Nothing much happened after an election that wasn’t predictable regardless of which party won. Taxes went up, services went down, and the politicians disappeared for another four years. Sometimes they dragged us into endless wars. Sometimes inflation spiraled out of control. Sometimes there were jobs, and sometimes there weren’t. There was the occasional more qualified President or, at least, a more likable one, but the end result was always the same. They were the elite, deciding the public’s future without any accountability, and that was our fault.
To belong to one of the major parties back then actually meant something. Working-class people voted for the Democrats who supposedly supported the poor, impoverished, and the struggling while the more affluent citizens voted Republican. They were more inclined to support the interests of small and big business, but who actually became richer were the career politicians. The ones that walked away from public office millionaires and billionaires with multiple homes and generous book and public speaking deals. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Public service shouldn’t be this lucrative.
Urban cities were the base of the Democratic party. They have had a lock on leadership and the electorate in most large urban areas like Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle. And how have they run them for decades? Into the ground. Violent crime continues to escalate, children are the victims of senseless shootings, poverty doesn’t change, and minorities are relegated to a life on the bottom of the economic ladder. And how do we hold them accountable? We continue to vote the same. How insane to expect a different outcome after decades of failed policies. Our politicians have failed, but so have we. They’ve come to expect certain groups, particularly minorities, to vote for their party. So, what is the incentive to follow through on the same hopeless promises? The American people accepted by their complacency government officials, particularly our congressional representatives at both the state and federal levels, platitudes that reaped nothing at the table. Same old promises, same old finger-pointing, same old lack of real leadership, and a commitment to the American people.
Then something extraordinary happened in 2016.
A different kind of man was running for President. What he was, was far less important than what he wasn’t. He wasn’t a politician. He didn’t think like a politician. He wasn’t wired to think why, but why not. Why couldn’t trade deals be more beneficial to America? Why couldn’t peace be orchestrated in the Middle East? Why couldn’t America be energy independent? Why couldn’t America take her leadership role in the world without groveling at the feet of tyrannical dictators? Why couldn’t a wall be built at our southern border? Why couldn’t drugs and sex trafficking be stopped within our country? Why couldn’t people have quality affordable healthcare? Why couldn’t we put America first and make American manufacturing paramount, reducing our dependence on the rest of the world? Why not indeed.
I would guess that many of the people that voted for the man in 2016 believed just more empty promises, forgetting the key. He’s not a politician. His goals are not about filling a seat forever in office. He made promises to the American people, and admits openly that he works for us, has no connection to special interest groups, or the DC political machine, and in the face of the harshest criticism and obstacles at every turn, he’s done more in four years than most of the politicians that have been in office for decades.
And he’s changed our perception of political parties because though he ran as a Republican, his policies and executive orders have helped minorities, African-Americans and Hispanics, women, farmers, and small businesses. His tax cuts and deregulation of the controls on the economy have benefited everyone. Why? Again, because he isn’t a politician. He sees a need and addresses it.
If his style is your problem, if his rhetoric gives you hives, consider this. We, the people have been sweet-talked into submission, acceptance for a lifetime. Pretty words, plans, and promises, that haven’t amounted to anything, and we rewarded the politicians with more time and more years to do nothing.
In contrast, our President doesn’t need to impress anyone. He’s established our presence in the world again, so much so that major powers are rooting against his reelection because they don’t care about America. They appreciate us better when they can cheat us on the open market, can sneer at the devastation of our cities, and when every conversation and negotiation begins with “We’re sorry.” He stands for America and has pulled us up from our knees.
By our lack of holding our elected officials accountable, we’ve allowed them to continue to put their own selfish agenda first. There is no excuse for not hammering out a deal to help Americans who have been devastated by the virus. If they felt even a measure of a threat to their elected positions, they would have worked day and night months ago to get it done. Instead, they laugh, eat ice cream, and now come election time, we’ll vote them more time.
PROVE THEM WRONG.
If we haven’t learned anything from our present President, I hope we’ve gained this insight. Results are what count, and if they haven’t delivered in thirty years, give someone else a try. There are a number of young hopefuls that want a chance to change America. In Baltimore (Kimberly Klacik), Los Angeles (Joe Collins), and even Michigan (John James).
But whomever we elect, we have to start now. When the election is over, our job doesn’t stop. Watch, keep score, because if the American people aren’t winning, then we need to send a decisive message with our vote, and elect someone else.
Elect people that
- love America, and its people. This is still a generous, courageous nation.
- will work hard for the American people. That’s what we pay them to do, and yes, they do work for us.
- will raise us up not tear us down. Not destroy our history, but learn from it to continue to grow us as people for the future of our children.
If we don’t make our voices heard through the ballot, then we have no right to complain, and if we don’t hold our office holders accountable, we enabled them to ignore us and our needs again..
Vote November 3.
