Memory Lapses

Here we are, close to a week before the election, and the horses are on the home stretch. Abortion had the early lead after the summertime Supreme Court decision throwing out Roe v. Wade, which energized Democrats, especially women. The news was filled with horror stories about pre-teen girls being forced to flee their states to get an abortion, or mothers having to bear children in spite of possibly fatal consequences.

But that was then. Now it’s the “economy, stupid,” crime, and immigration -- issues which favor the Republicans. Abortion isn’t quite doing it anymore; the news has mostly moved on. Did abortion simply peak too soon? Too bad for the Democrats that the court ruling didn’t happen In September to accommodate short attention spans.

What about democracy itself – why isn’t that important? The problem with democracy is that you can’t eat it, put it in your gas tank, or heat your house with it. It’s like the operating system in your computer – it runs in the background, and all the apps you use depend on it, but you don’t have to think about it until it’s hacked or corrupted. The January 6th committee tried to keep it alive, but even this issue is secondary, or even tertiary now, or so it seems.

And then there are the polls. The sky is turning red, everybody better get used to it, they say. What are those who don’t like that to do about it? Throw up their hands and binge-watch The Crown?

In some ways, locking out the news is not a bad idea. All this horse-race reporting can uplift us or depress us. We can easily be manipulated, whether our own hue is of red or blue. But staying out of the game completely, because we think it’s over, is a lousy idea.

Voting is not something we do when the rest of our lives is sorted out. It can determine HOW the rest of our lives WILL be sorted out. And this year, it might even take a little courage, with others eyeballing us as we walk up to the ballot dropbox in some places. But if we look at some third-world countries, where voting really IS dangerous, some of them still manage much higher election turnouts than we do.

Yes, it may be more difficult to vote this time. But If we don’t exercise our right, it may be much harder the next -- and we will miss it when it’s gone.