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Can I Get an Amen?



I was recently accused by a friend (in a helpful, non-antagonistic way) of "preaching to the choir." Instinctually, I took umbrage at this; in the past, I've always taken pride in the fact that I actively seek out those offering opposing viewpoints, speaking to them calmly and patiently, rather than turning my back on them to instead holler into an echo chamber.

She was right though. I certainly wasn't using verbiage that would attract a hard right conservative to give my thoughts a genuine listen. The only people who might possibly have heard me were like-minded individuals who needed no convincing.

BUT.

It got me thinking. Who should I be speaking to, really? As I stated in my last blog post, anyone who hasn't been convinced after all that's happened to amend their opinion of the Republican party certainly isn't going to have their mind changed by anything I have to say. Reaching out to them, attempting to sway them, appealing to their sense of decency—these are futile efforts. Can headway be made with moderate Republicans? Sure. But is the massive amount of time and energy required to have even the slimmest hope of success...worth it?

On the other hand, there's that "choir." Yes, they might already agree with me. But is preaching to them without benefit?

The disheartening truth is that only 28% of young voters plan to vote in this year's midterms*. A larger percentage—but not much larger—of Democrats as a whole drop their ballots into the box on Election Day. So yeah—I may be preaching to the choir, but the majority of that choir isn't even showing up to church (man, I already hate this analogy).

In other words, much of my intended audience may agree with me on policy, but not nearly enough of them agree with me on how we should go about ensuring that policy is enacted.

 There's no denying that our country—and the world—is at a crossroads. The action (or inaction) we take now will determine the trajectory of our wealth, health, and even survival. There simply isn't the time to work at forging inroads with people who have spent the last two years constructing barricades. The only thing we can do now is to bang the drums, and hope it will wake the sleeping.

Living in California, which is bluer than an abstinent Smurf, I've frequently felt impotent to effect much change on a local level. But maybe I've been looking at this all wrong. Maybe it isn't about turning red into blue. Maybe it's simply about making that blue as dynamic and vibrant as it can be. We already have our army—perhaps it's just a matter of making sure that every troop has taken pains to arm him/herself to the hilt.

Let's bury complacency. Let's join together all of our voices, not just the ones who are skilled at belting. Without changing a single mind, we have the firepower and the resources to drown out the rest of the noise.

Hallelujah.





*https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/7/18/17585898/young-voter-turnout-polls-midterms-2018

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