The key word is W-O-R-K
Impeach Trump? Who’s kidding whom? That’s the last thing in the world we should want to do. Donald Trump is merely a superficial symptom of what’s gone wrong with this country. He’s an effect, not a cause. Impeachment would only give Mike Spence and the Tea Party conspiracy a blank check to go on a reactionary legislative binge, a license to steal.
Yes, Trump is dangerous. But he is too disorganized and confused to consistently accomplish very much legislatively. But Pence and his disciplined, ideologically-pure libertarians could pauperize Social Security, privatize Medicare and further weaken an already shaky Veterans Administration before the 2020 presidential election. The country would be better off with Trump completing his term of office but stripped of his legislative majority.
If the Democrats could win back The House of Representatives this November they could defeat every bill the GOP submits for the next two years. That’s a stupid, asinine, polarizing thing to do. But that’s exactly what the Republicans did to prevent Obama from accomplishing anything legislatively, regardless of its merit. They vowed to sabotage the Democrats’ every effort and they did it. Stymied, paralyzed and emasculated with no future other than more embarrassing defeats, maybe Trump would abdicate and flee to Moscow. But seriously, I don’t see much going on in either party to restore our national sanity; and November 6 is only five months away.
Now is the time to organize and get the disenfranchised folks registered and the non-voters to the polls in November. In my opinion it’s the apathetic non-voters who present the greatest challenge. The numbers show that if the non-voters, a shocking 42% of those eligible, had voted together in 2016 their candidate would have won by a landslide. They are like our fastestgrowing religious denomination, the “nons.” But American voter turnout has been declining for over fifty years now. And Republican lawmakers are trying to deny even more people the right to vote. Many non-voters make the excuse of not liking any of the candidates. But they surely must dislike some more than others. I’ve voted on that basis more than once and know many that did so in 2016. But there are other roadblocks.
The first Tuesday of November has never been a great voting day. Some suggest voting on a national holiday when most people are off work. Others would prefer the weekends when most European nations vote. Both options merit consideration. But I see the main obstacle as plain old voter apathy. We must organize, get people registered and get them to the polls. The fewer people voting, the better chance you-know-who’s has of winning.
With time and effort most anyone can obtain a photo ID. It might require encouragement, intimidation or maybe even some legal help, but nothing insurmountable. Next is to get these folks to the polls on election day. I’ve done some of this in the past and there’s no mystery to it. It takes a tank of gas and one day’s time every two years. The results are definitely worth the effort.
Party meetings, partisan rhetoric and debating the issues are all edifying and rewarding (and entertaining; I thrive on it!) But it doesn’t get people to the polls on election day. Commitment, organization and hard work do, with an emphasis on WORK.
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.