Well another non-presidential election just passed and while some results were good others left much to be desired. A chance to start to turn Virginia's House around mostly passed without success. I know, I know, it's just a local election, but the simple fact is the answer to fixing this country is a two word sentence... "Go vote." That may sound trite or even ridiculous on the surface but it's really that simple. When Dems turn out, we win. When we don't turn out, the other side wins and when they win they try to stack the deck in their favor and have largely succeeded in many places.
Democrats won the national popular vote for House seats by almost 1.5 million votes, but obviously don't have a majority of the seats in the House. This was accomplished on the state level after the 2010 election when Democrats didn't turn out and the GOP rigged the map in their favor. Due to that game rigging there are several states where Democrats won or almost won the popular vote in the 2012 election but the Republicans still won the vast majority of the national and state House seats. .
Some of the worst examples are:
Pennsylvania - 51% of the vote, 28% of the Representatives;
North Carolina - 51% of the vote, 27% of the Representatives
Virginia - 49% of the vote, 28% of the Representatives
The list goes on and on and everything that has followed is because of that problem.
So follow me below the squiggle for a simple guide on how to fix this problem, move our country forward and take the power away from the dying old world thinking that permeates the GOP.
Like I said, the answer is really quite simple, but I'll break it down for people who think some issues are more important than others...
If you are offended by the ongoing efforts by the GOP do disenfranchise young people, people of color and women to prevent them from voting... go vote.
If you are a woman or know a woman and want to see safe access to abortion and other reproductive services and want to stop the attacks on reproductive rights... go vote.
If you know any undocumented workers and believe that there should be Immigration reform and a path to citizenship for all of them... go vote.
If you want to see clean energy be given the same federal financing as the coal, oil and natural gas generated by fracking (or want to see fracking regulated much more heavily) so energy becomes cheaper and safer... go vote.
If you want to see the abomination known as Citizen's United overturned, especially now with so many seats on the Supreme Court due to turn over in the next decade... go vote.
If you want to see Social Security strengthened so it's still there and strong as ever in 50 years and don't want to see it handed over to Wall Street and benefits cut... go vote.
If you want to see the ACA be given a fair chance to work and maybe eventually upgraded to universal healthcare or Medicare for all... go vote.
If you have ever used SNAP, Medicaid or other government assistance program or know someone who has (like yours truly), understand how cruel it is to cut money to those in dire need and want to see the benefits protected or even expanded... go vote.
If you believe in stronger laws that support labor, want to see a higher minimum wage, stronger worker protections and less profits being sent overseas to sit in some rich dudes tax free shelter... go vote.
If you want to see better, stronger public schools with smaller class sizes and better paid teachers, earlier starts to public education so everyone gets a chance at a good education and access to inexpensive higher education... go vote.
If you want to see an end to for-profit prisons and sentencing laws that don't discriminate based on race... go vote.
If you think America's military policy is a steaming pile of crap and want to see the defense budget reduced, the drone strikes ended and less money spent on boondoggle defense programs... go vote.
If you want to see some of that money being spent on defense funneled into rebuilding our infrastructure to take us into the future safely and create 1000s of good paying construction jobs... go vote.
If you want to see safer food with less GMOs, more emphasis on growing locally, stronger restrictions on Monsanto and less money being stuffed into the pockets of greedy rich dudes... go vote.
If you want to see better gun laws to promote safety and reduce gun violence so the Onion doesn't turn out to be right... go vote.
If you are interested in seeing a saner drug policy that focuses on rehabilitation instead of incarceration and explore options like decriminalization or even legalization... go vote.
If Ted Cruz scares the ever living snot out of you and you never want to see him shut down the government again... go vote.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. You have to vote. You have to vote no matter how much you have going on in your personal life. You have to vote no matter if it means traveling several miles because the GOP assholes moved your polling place. You have to vote in the local elections even when they happen in odd years. You have to vote in midterms when there is no President choice on the ballot. You also can't stop after voting for the President/Governor, you have to vote for every single race on the ballot.
Putting it in the simplest terms, you have to vote
every...
single...
time...
you...
get...
the...
chance....
It really is that simple. If you do that, we win.
Every...
Single...
Time...