The Obama Voting Surge

so many people. from Daveknapick's flickr

I have my problems with Obama, but I also have things I like.  For one, I’m impressed with the level of political activation he creates among folks I know – for better or worse, we at least have something to talk about, someone to believe in, and someone to disappoint us.

Massive turnout is a codeword for an Obama landslide – since 2000 the GOP has relied on voter suppression as a path to electoral victory, both in its campaign talking points and efforts to purge felons and likely Democratic demographics from the voter rolls.  In the Democratic primary, Clinton relied on lower voter turnout as a path to victory, and we all know how that turned out for her.

Higher turnout also suggests that machine politics has turned a corner with the first truly post-boomer, post Cold War president – Clinton was a boomer, Bush the son of the Reaganite political machine borne from Cold War conservatism.  Obama has skirted the cultural wars of the 60s and 70s, and dodged the cryptoracist attacks on Patriotism that drove the last few election cycles, and he’s setting up the new terms for debate that will shape how people respond to mainstream electoral politics.

Because he’s been so effective in preaching transcendence, the task of those further to his left is re-purposing his rhetoric to radicalize the huge mass of people currently at his side – and this requires similarly transcending the terms used to respond to both the New World order of the 90s, and the Bush-centric totalitarianism of the last 8 years.

I’m A Demographic Pt. 2 – CNN Edition

Welcome to NYU

“Walking to school, on a day that was sunny/nearing the library, trying to study/when what to my wondering eyes does appear/but red white and blue, and CNN gear.” – ‘Twas The Night Before Voting

CNN set up camp next to NYU and CMJ with it’s “League of First Time Voters” mobile something-or-other, come to inspire new students to actually vote.  First of all, I’m confused why a television network, with it’s presumption of ‘objectivity’ would take it upon itself to actively promote what about half of America chooses not to do – that is, vote.  Second, the whole spectacle looked like an orchestrated pander to college-age folks, with edgy, stylized lettering and a “graffiti wall” where students could “express themselves.”

It also shows the basic format of political expression and corporate control – feel free to express yourself (on THIS wall), but make sure to express yourself, or else you’re not a real American.  It’s a co-option of certain types of ‘expression’ as political resistance – but it also meant we got free buttons.  CNN’s investment in this type of outreach shows the investment America’s corporate-political elite in voting, as well as the real potential of voter-abstention as a form of resistance.

What if it’s stolen?

owned by GOP. from subfinitum's flickr photostream.

I don’t think folks have put nearly enough thought into whether this election could be stolen. The last two elections were fraudulent, and I think a barely-explicable swing right in these last two weeks could still occur, and cause swing-states at the margins to go ‘Republican,’ – with some help at the polls, of course.

Greg Palast and NYU’s own Mark Crispin Miller have been doing interesting research into the possibility – the question is, what are we going to do if it is?

The suggestion of ‘riots’ comes up frequently, but I’d like there to be a more productive response also in the works. Fighting to restore the vote is better than just fighting, but I’d appreciate if there was room for more productive responses too, that might encourage folks towards political systems that don’t require voting.

Voter Apathy Doesn’t Exist

get stickers instead. from Senor Codo’s flickr

Rumors are beginning to circulate about Obama supporters: according to POLLS, they won’t vote.  In response Obama has resorted to old school circuses and minor stunts of political patronage.

This year I’m in the target demographic for get out the vote and voter registration drives.  Lots of people want me to vote.  At first glance, these ‘drives’ are visibly indistinguishable from blood ‘drives’ – friendly middle aged folks going soft around the edges staffing with clipboards and mountains of paper touting  your ability to save a life (of our republic, or of someone you don’t know).  The comparison is apt: blood drives and voter reg, next to ‘raising money for cancer’ is about the only totally uncontroversial political discourse left in America.

I however, would like to come out in support of so-called ‘voter apathy.’  I believe that the demonization of non-voting in our society is based on the totally false belief that our government can or should continue to operate without the contributions of the people governed.  Piles of money gets pumped into the airwaves for the express purpose of devaluing the decision millions of voters make to avoid the polls.  At the behest of this propaganda, a great deal of the voting class (and it is, by most measures, a class) refuses to take their Fellow Americans seriously come election day.

Not voting does not mean voter apathy.  Voter apathy does not exist, apathy towards voting yes, but we are not ‘voters’ first.  Not voting is an express recognition that the fools and liars running for office don’t serve your interests.  Not voting means that you don’t believe that the election can solve your problems; it actively recognizes that our lives are defined by issues that Our President won’t help or change. If you don’t think the president can change your life for the better, you shouldn’t vote.