North Carolinians will vote for a President, US Senator, US Representative, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Senator, State Representative, Treasurer, School Superintendent, Commissioner of Labor, Agriculture, Insurance, Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, and, Chief Justice and other Judges a couple of times this year - just to name a few.
March 5, 1869 was the day North Carolina ratified Article XV of the US Constitution. It stated that “[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by the State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” We all know, however, that the right to vote was not conveyed with unfettered intent. It would be decades before the opportunity to vote would become a reality. The barriers placed before those seeking to vote proved that exercising one’s rights is more than a notion.
Did the founding Fathers anticipate the sheer volume of choices the average citizen would have to consider to keep democracy flowing? Did the founding Fathers anticipate the price a candidate would be willing to pay to become a representative of the people? Did the founding Fathers anticipate that a vote cast would be in a manner other than on a piece of paper? Of course not, but here we are.
So much of what we experience in an election season violates the integrity of our rights. Objectivity is obscured by advertising, media commentary and misinformation. The thing the average voter deserves most is the last thing offered by most candidates – one on one discourse. If it is too much to expect an opportunity tolook a candidate in the eye and have civil discourse, then maybe there is something wrong with how we have let our democracy evolve. Maybe we have gotten too big for our britches.
Have you noticed how guarded candidates and office holders are about the audiences they entertain?
Have you noticed how frequently you read or hear about gatherings some elected officials had but to which you were not invited or informed of until afterwards?
It’s tough enough to have so many decisions to make at one time, but it is shameful to have to rely upon your memory of a commercial or a mailer as the reason to cast your vote.
But on the other hand...
Diversity flourishes when opportunity blossoms. Suppression of opportunity is deleterious to enrichment and enlightenment. Suppression of opportunity is the death knell to diversity. Civil discourse is absolutely essential in the fight against suppression at all levels. Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to less personal contact with our candidates and thus don’t really know who we are electing to office; and, they don’t really know who they are representing.
As so many of you heard at church in the first sermon of the new year, 2020 is the year of clear vision. If that is truly to be the case, then we must insist on a more personal and direct approach to problem solving. It’s not the volume of commercials or number of text messages and emails that make a viable candidate. Maybe the reason the sweat equity of the founding Fathers has lasted this long is not because technology and messaging and not because of polls and pundits but instead because fundamentals are everlasting – Keep It Simple Stupid.
Originally published in the AfAmTURNOUT NORTH CAROLINA newsletter - Feb 20, 2020