Cynical...

I've gotten even more cynical over the past few years and I'm really struggling with it. 

I don't want to be. 

I prefer to be optimistic and hopeful. 

And now I also have another way to look at it.

Spent the past few weeks reading a book about how democracies often end in authoritarianism and the steps that happen that bring us along that path. 

One of them is cynicism. 

Not that people get cynical and then it leads towards authoritarianism, but that fomenting cynicism is a tool used by one side to demotivate the other. 

For instance, if you can be convinced that there is no real difference between the Left and the Right then why bother voting at all?

If you think that the only acceptable thing is perfection then you will never be happy with better than what we had. 

If you are told that nothing is changing, even if it is, then you can lose any hope that change will ever come. 

Cynicism. 

You stop voting. They don't. Then they change the rules to make it harder for you to vote at all. Power is consolidated. Over and over again then...

There you are. Democracy is dead.

Are we there yet?

We are closer than I'm comfortable with. 

I honestly believe we need to pass significant voter reform.

Right now you have a ton of legislation at the state levels to try and limit voting. Fewer days, fewer places, less time, harder to register, easier to purge. And they are claiming it's all for election security. After 2020 they need to do this to shore up voter confidence. I mean, they could just stop claiming that the election was compromised in any way and talk about how there is no evidence of fraud, that is was actually an incredibly secure election, how Biden won and it was because more people voted for him. Trump lost. 

But if we don't get significant voter reform passed they will continue to do what they can to limit voter participation. They will continue to say that the only valid votes are votes for them. They will push fraud lies. They will do what they can to make sure that we get a minority rule for as long as they can hold it. 

I'm afraid if they hold it, even one more time, we will be stuck with it. 

That's not cynicism, that's reality. 

We need to use the majorities we have right now. We need to make sure that voters get the chance to vote for the best people and ideas. If it ends up that Republicans can put together a platform that speaks to the most people then they win. That's how it should work. But we have to make sure that is what is happening. 

End gerrymandering. I know it's tempting to do it in the Democrats' favor when you get the chance, but it shouldn't be that way on either side. Find a way to carve out voting groups by numbers not demographics. Representation of the whole, not just certain groups. 

More voters registered. If people don't want to vote, they won't. But we shouldn't be discouraging them from participating. We have made men register for selective service at 18, why don't we have a voter registration that works the same way? You turn 18, you register to vote. You don't have to exercise that right, but you can. It's all taken care of. Citizenship test taken, voter registration completed. It's the way we are set up. The people as voters are supposed to have power over the government. So give the voters that power. 

And if people are fighting against it ask them why. Why don't they believe in democracy? Why don't they believe that people should be voting for ideas and the best people running, not what is given as the only option. 

Get the money out of the race. 

Limit the time people are running. 

Make the job about governing, not about fundraising and running again. 

There are so many things that need done. 

And I get it, it seems so overwhelming. And it's easy to just get cynical and give up.

But that's what they want you to do. And if you do, and if enough people do, then it's too late once you realize you shouldn't have.

So I'm working on it. I'm trying to make sure I don't fall in the "all the same" trap. Because they aren't. Not at all. 

Keep pushing to get better ideas and more ideas represented. Keep working toward those big goals. The ones where we can all get our base needs taken care of (living wages, healthcare covered, education) so we can strive for more. Keep going with that agenda. 

Don't let them "all the same" you into submission when you get 5 steps closer instead of 20. That's still 5 steps. And then we do 5 more. Or 10 more. Or the full 15. But if you get those 5 and then let them convince you it was nothing? Then you get those taken away. You get pushed back. Again. 

Don't let them. 

Hold on to your hope. 
Keep working for more. 

Help me out here. Because I'm struggling and I want to keep doing this the right way. I don't want to look back in 10 years and see it was too late. 

Let's work on it, okay? 

Don't believe them when they say it's all the same. 
Don't trust them when they say it's not good enough so it doesn't matter that it's better than. 

Keep voting. 
Keep encouraging others to vote.

Just keep going.