Look Who's Voting

Yes, I know Obama isn't close to everything you wanted. He compromises too easily and isn't as visionary as he sounded standing next to John McCain. Whee.

The Democrats in Congress haven't exactly been all that, either. They've done their normal job of showing off internal disputes and demonstrating what the shifting Overton Window means for liberalism in the U.S. They may be up for reelection, and many of them may face plausible challenges for the first time in ages, but...blah.

I know. You're not excited. The problem is that there are other voters who are.



Oh, yes. They're voting. Know why? They've seen the progress that has been made in the last Congressional term, in Obama's first two years in office, and it terrifies them. And even if that terror has only a tangential connection to reality, there's a lesson there for all of us.

So the last two years haven't been anything like idyllic. Does your memory stretch back far enough to let you think about the eight years before that? Do you remember how powerless we felt? Do you remember the despair we faced when confronting the idea that our country might keep moving in that direction?

No, having Democrats in control of the White House and Congress hasn't given us everything we wanted in two years, but it's time to remember what the alternative is. Your district and state may not have candidates as colorful as Carl Paladino, Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle or Michele Bachmann, but there are plenty of candidates who share their politics, if not their blatant craziness. There are plenty of candidates who want to make sure government does nothing but enforce their pet social sanctions.

And there are plenty of people who will turn out to vote for them.

So it's time. It's time to make sure your friends and neighbors know what's at stake in this election. It's time to make sure they know who will be on the ballot, what the oddly worded propositions mean, where to vote. It's time to make sure voters in your community are excited and ready to turn out, because the people in that video will, without your help or urging. And they're really hoping you won't.