Like most citizens, I have always thought of America as being the greatest nation on earth. This sense of patriotism gives me a feeling of pride and duty for my country. However, more and more I am beginning to realize just how terrifying it is to be in a country where people elect individuals such as Ryan, Akin, Bachman, Cantor and many other right-wing zealots to develop and attempt to enact the laws that will govern them. These people are so far out of touch with mainstream society that it stands to reason that the people who elect them are as well. How do these people get elected? There are far more liberal-leaning citizens in this country than there are far right. Is it simply that the left is too apathetic to get out and vote? If this is the case, how do we combat this apathy? Or is it the fact that there are far too many uninformed people who blindly vote for Republicans out of sheer ignorance? It is the latter of which I will discuss here.
I recently had a conversation with an individual whom I know ranks in the lower class of income in this country, we will call him Eldon. He is supporting the Romney/Ryan ticket and I wanted to know why. His response was, “… There is not going to be any leader in our lifetime that will be able to do the right thing. Just pick.” When I asked him what it was about President Obama that he didn’t like (and I asked for specifics) his response was, “I don’t like his policies or his use of executive decision.” This is the type of ignorance that those of us who care about what goes on in this country are up against. This person knows nothing about the president’s policies nor does he have any idea what executive decisions President Obama has made. It is a terribly sad window into the mind of many ignorant Americans. I had even tried to inform him that he would be voting against his own self-interests if he chose Romney; however, my words fell on deaf ears.
I had an epiphany while conversing with Eldon. I realized that if ignorance is truly in such abundance then the way we may be able to combat it is with diversionary tactics. I thought of Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party. In 1912, after being denied the Republican nomination for president in favor of incumbent president William H Taft, TR created the BMP and ran independently of the Republicans against both Woodrow Wilson and Taft. Because of his immense popularity with the public, TR handed the election over to Wilson by taking much needed votes from Taft. With this in mind I gave Eldon my advice, “…you really should check out Ron Paul. I bet you would like him more than Romney and President Obama.”
We all know people like Eldon. People who pay absolutely no attention to politics but are going to vote regardless… and their votes, due to bigotry, ignorance, or just plain stupidity will, if not somehow persuaded otherwise, go to the Romney/Ryan ticket. With a little bit of effort I believe we can persuade those types of individuals to vote for Ron Paul and decrease Romney’s chances of winning the presidency this fall. Just as a disclaimer: I like Ron Paul. I just don’t see him ever winning the presidency, no matter how many times he runs.
Of course, this is not the only way to combat ignorance. There are those uninformed individuals who are open to listening to what you have to say and who are willing to change their views if your argument is convincing enough. The number one way to combat ignorance is through knowledge; more importantly, knowing your opponent’s argument and viewpoint just as well as you know your own. A well-informed liberal should be able to spit out conservative talking points faster than they can muster them up. There is nothing conservatives hate more than a well-informed public because a well-informed public would never vote for a modern day right-wing Republican.
We need to put forth a little bit of effort in order to ensure President Obama’s reelection this November. Each one of us needs to talk to everyone we know about voting… more importantly, voting for Obama. We must make people realize why they shouldn't vote for Romney if that is who they indeed are leaning towards and like I mentioned before, persuade them to vote for a third party if they absolutely will not vote for President Obama. Dirty tactics? Sure! But the right is employing much worse against us. We can be sure they will try anything they can to trick people into not voting in November. As we have seen in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere efforts are being made to disenfranchise Democratic voters. We must fight back and fight back hard!
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