SUMMARY: Today, we delve into the state of democracy, highlighting the rise in violent rhetoric, escalating real violence, and the erosion of democratic values. However, we also provide two key actions individuals can take to combat authoritarianism and strengthen democracy. Firstly, we emphasize the power of voting, exploring how each vote is integral to the democratic process. Secondly, we recommend participating in various voter registration initiatives. By voting and helping others to vote, we can collectively work towards a more perfect union.

---

KEY WORDS: Democracy, Violent rhetoric, Authoritarianism, Voting, Democratic institutions, Voter registration, When We All Vote, The League of Women Voters, VOTE411.org, Rock the Vote

---

The Great Civics Lesson: Yo! Yo! Yo! Voting Matters, Yo! — Updated

Our democracy seems to be coming apart at the seams. Violent rhetoric is on the rise, real violence is escalating, and real live people are not only getting hurt, but are being killed.

The House is in shambles. The Courts are handing out unprecedented unconstitutional rulings like they are poisoned Halloween candy. The states are enacting anti-democratic laws and rolling back established freedoms. Joe Biden is BUILDING THE WALL!!?!1! Have I awoken in some badly written fanfiction episode of Fringe?

The liberal media is handwringing and pearl clutching about how we are sliding into authoritarianism and fascism. Trump directly echoed Hitlerian fascist rhetoric by claiming that immigrants across the southern boarder are “poisoning the nation’s blood.” The legacy media is busy horseracing the House Speaker and the presidential races as if both are normal and bothsidesing everything else.

It feels like everything is coming off the rails, and people ask, What can I do?

Well, folks, today we’re saddling up the blog to ride roughshod over the Republican attempts at lobotomizing our democracy. I’ve got two things YOU can do to help defeat authoritarianism and help us achieve a more perfect union.

Voting: the Democratic Super Power

SAVE DEMOCRACY: VOTE! Find out How and Make it Count — UPDATED

According to Tim Snyder, the key to strengthening and saving democracy is to use our democratic institutions. I can’t think of a more important democratic institution than our vote, can you?

Every election is the most important election in the country. It doesn’t matter if it is the presidential election, the by-year Congressional elections, a lone special election, a local election, or a state referendum.

If one election fails, our democracy fails.

Each vote cast is an exercise of our most important democratic institution, and each voter becomes a vital member of this institution.

Your next opportunity to vote is your chance to strengthen our democracy. There is nothing more important right now than committing yourself to voting (Spoiler: That means registering to vote).

Voting as a Social Event

Defeat Trump, the GOP, and Authoritarianism in November: Volunteer for a GOTV Campaign

Now, I know the next election might seem far off, and hey, we’re scared and worried NOW. But fear not! There’s plenty you can do in the meantime. Let’s see what kicking the old Internet browser shakes loose for us by way of participating in democracy right now, today:

• WHEN WE ALL VOTE: When Michelle Obama went high, she set her sites on increasing voter turn out among communities of color and young people. When We All Vote is her answer to Republican voter suppression and nullification. It can be your answer, too, because they sponsor voter registration drives that you can participate in!
• THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS: (a) Yes, they are still around. Perhaps you remember them as the organizers of the presidential debates many years ago. I know, I’m old. And (b) they now have a robust voter registration operation that, good news, you can participate in! It is very grassrooty and community-ee (?) according to their website.
• VOTE411.ORG: If in-person face-to-face isn’t your thing, you can register online through VOTE411.org. It’s a kind of one-stop shop for your individualized voting needs including what’s on YOUR ballot, checking your registration status, locating polling places, and getting candidates to answer their questions. Best of all, you can make your very own voting plan!
• VOTE.ORG: Not only will Vote.org help you register to vote and check your registration status, they will send you notifications as elections approach so you won’t forget to vote… or at least, you won’t have an excuse for forgetting.
• ROCK THE VOTE: For all us aging rock-n-rollers out their, RockTheVote rocks on! While they focus on the yutes of today, they will probably help all us elders register and vote, too. Young’uns are fickle voters, so they’ll send you reminders about voting, too.
• POD SAVE AMERICA: If you liked the podcast, you’ll LOVE their voter registration wing, VOTE SAVE AMERICA, especially if you like your voting registration partisany. Although the site appears to be stuck on 2022, it’s NOT. There are listings for voter registration drives happening THIS MONTH, so check ’em out.

Party On and Save Democracy!

Alright, folks, let’s make saving democracy a party. Gather your friends and family, serve some chips and dips, and when everyone is soused enough not to know any better, get their voting lives sorted! Spread the word, encourage others to register, and breathe life back into our democratic process. Together, we can be superheroes and save democracy!

If you liked this post or any of the others on Ye Olde Blogge, I’d appreciate it if you could do one or all of the following:

• SHARE this blog post on your favorite social media site, re-blog it to your favorite blog, or just tell somebody about it even if it is a complete stranger and gets you arrested.
• LIKE or RATE this post using the buttons before and after. Did you know that you don’t even have to be a registered WordPress user to rate a post or comment?
• COMMENT on this post. What do you think about the state of our democracy and what we can do to save it?
• FOLLOW the blog or join our email thingee:

Type your email…

Subscribe

Image Attribution

“Voting is Patriotic (USA)” by farlane is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.