This is US focused but the principle of being involved in local issues is universal to all democracies.
Can I rant for a minute?
Why does every thread about voting devolve into bitching about the flaws of the Electoral College?
Fun fact: the Electoral College only pertains to the Presidency and there’s almost nothing you can do about that directly.
Think local, that’s where you can make a difference. Your local school board has the power to either support students or drive them to suicide. Local races frequently turn on a handful of votes.
So go ahead, sit out the election because the choices for president stink. I humbly submit that your superior moral stance may not be based on very firm principles. That trans kid down the block didn’t need your help anyway. /s
Dude…
You can’t say the presidential election doesn’t matter.
I fully agree with the sentiment that not enough people are concerned enough with their local and state elected officials. We get far too caught up in the national news headlines, or the news in states thousands of miles away, now thanks to our increasingly connected lives. The onslaught of media coverage is distracting and dividing. Yeah, 10000% agree with this.
That doesn’t mean the commander in chief and leader of our country is irrelevant. It doesn’t mean you should “sit it out”. It’s difficult to leave individuals out of the conversation to keep this civil but we’re in a unique time where a twice impeached president who has said and done things that are difficult to defend as “presidential” or even moral is up for election again. This year, I’d argue that the presidential election matters more than your local election.
As for the electoral college, most of the people who have an issue with this lack the understanding of why this was established and how it functions as a tool of a representative democracy. That’s not to say it’s flawless but it’s worked without issue for nearly 250 years. I see it as a very, very low priory of things that need reform.
I’d also submit that people need to be more supportive their local newspapers. Far too many are crumbling and getting bought up by national organizations and tilting the narrative. Read your newspapers - not just the front page of their website, not just their social media posts. Discuss local politics with your friends and neighbors. Ask the newspaper if they could investigate something. We have not held the fourth pillar of democracy to the standards that best interest us. And I’d argue it’s because we simply don’t care enough about the news than we do entertainment. People are afraid of the real news but there’s a lot more to it than drugs and crime.
Pretty sure I didn’t say it didn’t matter. It’s just that your vote and engagement at the local level are more effective than making everything about the presidential contest. I’m attempting to shift the conversation to topics that don’t just de-moralize people and enforce the all-too-easy feelings of helplessness that engenders.
It feels good to spend a weekend knocking on doors doing get-out-the-vote efforts for a school board candidate you actually know and support, especially when the race ends up hinging on about 80 votes. Arguing in a circular firing squad about only the presidency just leaves everyone frustrated and no minds are changed.