Sail, sail thy best, ship of Democracy,
Walt Whitman
Of value is thy freight, ’tis not the Present only,
The Past is also stored in thee.
When I was in high school, I sang those words at a choral festival held at the Pennsylvania Capitol, and I recall that sense of overwhelming promise every single time I’m there. I was in the Capitol for work this past week, and as one of my colleagues and I marveled at the beauty of the rotunda, she referred to it as a “cathedral to democracy.” For as many times as I’ve been there, I still get chills when thinking of the love and care that were put into the shaping of our government, the optimism and hope that brought this great American experiment into being, and the stubborn belief that self-governance through individual responsibility is a realistic possibility.
Given the apparent growing strife in our political system, I mused on Ronald Regan’s famous quote that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,” and commented that nothing is guaranteed; that every generation continuously needs to fight anew in protecting our Union and in creating something more perfect. That is one of the reasons I always get on a soapbox around election time – because representative democracy is so fragile… and because it does not work and will not last without engagement from those who are represented.
Rights are like Muscles
One of the things that is exceptionally frustrating for me is the idea that some people only vote once every four years for the highest office in the land, thinking that that is enough… when, in fact, some people vote in every election open to them, and that is only a good start. Voting good people into office is not enough – they need to understand what the issues are and how their constituents are impacted by the decisions they make. If they are good politicians, they will listen – and there is no one better to educate your representatives about your lived experience than you.
I’ve written before on this blog about the value of getting to know your elected officials, getting in touch with them about issues that are important to you, and helping them understand the weight of their decisions.[1] We cannot correctly assume that they know the full contents of every bill and the nuance of every issue – there is simply not enough time in the day. But you’d better believe that they’re getting information from somewhere, and it may not be the full picture – or reflective of your experience. Unfortunately the dominant narrative can come from well-financed interests with a powerful lobbying presence or even just mainstream media.
Combatting inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-context information is what I strive to do on this blog (among other places in my life), and I cannot stress how important it is to educate yourself and others about issues that affect you. I recognize that I am speaking from a place of privilege, and that not everyone has the time, bandwidth, or desire to do the extent of research I do. I get it, and that’s why I try to share this information as broadly as I can. But this effort cannot possibly stop with me, which is something that was made brutally clear to me as I did my 2022 spring election research.
I have been creating election spreadsheets and posting them for my friends to reference since the 2016 presidential election, years before this blog came into being. It is safe to say that in that time there have been some contentious races, but I do not recall a field of candidates that resulted in so much frustration and so little hope on my part as has the crew that is currently assembled on my ballot.
Platforms and Talking Points
And it shouldn’t be surprising, since we’re headed into a midterm election with a Democrat in the White House, a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, and a Democratic tie-breaker in the Senate. The last six years have also seen a Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania. Republicans are desperate to regain control, and the Republicans on my ballot are (largely) using any means necessary to capitalize on voter fears, from slinging mud at their opponents, to misconstruing facts, to using culture war talking points IN ALL CAPS.
My ballot includes races for US Senator, PA Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and a seat in the PA House of Representatives. Unsurprisingly, the Senate race has the highest stakes and the most attention because of the implications for federal policy. And also, unsurprisingly, the primary is full of extreme vitriol and fear mongering – and far, far more than I am used to when going through this process.
One or two candidates in this field of seven actually addressed issues, while the rest displayed various levels of fervor related to culture war talking points, rather than issues of policy. I was dismayed to see that while one candidate was proud of helping to prevent thousands of Pennsylvania businesses from closing during the pandemic by creating a nonprofit that provided forgivable loans,[2] another was proud of helping to prevent a Christopher Columbus statue from being removed from a Philadelphia park,[3] as though that was anybody’s biggest concern right now.
While chugging through my research, I figured that the one candidate who actually displayed a reasonable approach to bipartisan policy and focused on actions that were bolstering Pennsylvania’s middle class, would be a slam dunk compared to the others. And then I looked at where he stood in the polls – he’s currently sitting in third place (at best),[4] behind an out-of-state, Trump-endorsed TV personality [5] and a hedge fund CEO whose Super Bowl campaign ad featured a crowd chanting “Let’s go Brandon.”[6]
What to Do?
I have no idea what’s happening on the Democrats’ ballot, but I can easily see a radical right-wing candidate winning the Republican primary and ratcheting up the stakes for a polarized general election this fall. We already know that Americans who fall closer to the ends of the ideological spectrum are more likely to vote,[7] and for that reason, we are more likely to see extreme candidates pandering to an extreme voting base, particularly in primary elections. That fact also makes it harder and harder for someone who might be a good choice overall to make it past the primaries. And you know where it goes from there: we frequently wind up with two candidates in the general election who no one likes, with one or the other gaining power and creating or supporting more polarized policy.
Image credit: [8]
As long as candidates believe (and are reinforced in the belief) that extremism is what voters want, it will continue. One great way to limit that behavior is for more moderate voters to get involved and support more moderate candidates – candidates who are willing and capable of reaching across the aisle and working to productively address issues that are impacting Pennsylvanians / Americans. The other step is for all of us to 1) learn who our elected officials are at the local, state, and federal levels and 2) tell them how we feel about issues that are up for debate so that our interests are more meaningfully considered.[9]
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania does not have open primaries, which means that a good number of my friends and family (those who do pay more attention to the issues than some but are registered as independents or with other parties) won’t be able to vote in May. I have often debated changing my own registration, but, as much as I am loath to admit to being a registered republican these days, I don’t want to be left out of the process; I don’t want my voice limited any more than it already is.
So, with all of that said, if you are a registered republican in Pennsylvania, I hope you find some use from my election research, compiled in the spreadsheet below. Either way, I hope you are able to make the time to do some research and get involved. Our democracy depends on it.
Learn who’s on your ballot here.[10]
What are some things you’re doing to get involved in politics? I’d love to hear about your efforts below.
Thank you for reading!
[1] https://radicalmoderate.online/june-2020-election-guide-corona-edition-part-2/
[2] https://pa30dayfund.com/about/
[3] https://billypenn.com/2021/12/26/columbus-statue-philadelphia-marconi-plaza-bochetto-kenney/
[5] https://www.npr.org/2022/04/10/1091939065/trump-dr-oz-senate-pennsylvania
[6] https://www.inquirer.com/politics/clout/david-mccormick-super-bowl-ad-lets-go-brandon-20220214.html
[8] https://imgflip.com/i/6cv45g
[9] https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
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