Change the system by voting in midterm elections
Among the sea of information on the internet, somewhere between the memes and 24-hour news cycle, is a stream of angry tweets seemingly always directed at President Donald Trump.
Although internet activism does decent work in its own right, it is almost always more useful to get out from behind a keyboard and actually do something – like voting.
Change starts at the local level. The sooner we learn that, the sooner we can make real waves.
When typing your internet rants about how bad of job Trump is doing, it is important to remember he is one part of a system that has been created. That system put him in office. Even when it feels he has a mind of his own, there is still a rally of people with agendas alike in the background.
Those are your representatives and senators and includes your city council officials. Our local government is a reflection of what we see on a national level. If there is a job you are not seeing done nationally, the chances are it is not being fulfilled locally either.
U.S. senators and representatives directly deal with legislation. The people we put in these offices are the ones that hold Trump accountable. It is imminent that we vote people in who have the spine to do so.
Furthermore, state rights are a fantastic concept. State representatives are some of the most important elected officials. They are the ones directly tasked with passing bills into laws.
Voting for your state senators and representatives lacks involvement from citizens as well. Nurturing the representation in our state government can set an example for other states. Then, hopefully, this model can seep its way into the U.S. government.
The people we put in power define the makeup of our society. This doesn’t mean once we elect the people we want into office everything will magically fix and systemic issues will dissipate, but it could be a stepping stone.
The Dallas Observer reported that Texas had the 49th worst voter turnout among the 50 states in 2016. To bring it a little closer to home, Denton County’s May 2017 general and special elections had a voter turnout of only 9.6 percent with individual precincts having a voter turnout of under 25 percent each.
Denton’s city council generally has an election every May and they establish the foundation for how our government works.
All 150 Texas House of Representatives seats are up for election November 6, 2018 along with all 435 seats of the U.S. House, which Texas owns 36 of.
Texas representative for Denton area is Lynn Stucky while Michael C. Burgess is the area’s representative for the U.S. House. Moreover, Senator Ted Cruz’s position will be up for election as well.
There are already candidates in each race making their case. It would be beneficial to see people getting behind them now to build a sturdy momentum.
What we can do as of now is become registered ourselves or become a voting registrar. The process is fast and entitles you to register others to vote and while you are at it you can inform others of the upcoming elections near them. While not everyone can vote or will be able to make it to the polls for immigrations reasons or demanding life schedules, if you can make it out, you should.
The issues we see are deep-seated. It is going to take a lot of movers and shakers from bottom to top to uproot this system.
Your vote is your voice. Exercise it for yourself and those you want to help.
Featured illustration by Theresa Sanchez
What Tori is forgetting is the fact that gerrymandering is a real thing. That’s why voter turnout is low in Texas.
Tori, you’re ignoring the fact that the Democrats have moved too far to the left, and their liberal “values” are at odds with the values of the majority of voters in Texas. My grandpa was a long-time Democrat until he died, but he was also a Christian man who believed in personal responsibility. He’s probably rolling in his grave to see Democrats who call Christians “deplorable” and believe in victimization instead of personal responsibility. It’s also no secret that moderates are moving to the right and not the left; my spouse is that way. If the Democrats are going to succeed at all in Texas, they must not alienate most of the voting population and treat their values as despicable.