Unless you’ve already voted, you have a decision that must be made by no later than November 2, 2010. Will you choose to exercise your right to vote?
Unless this writer has misjudged the mood of the Docudharma community, there seems to be a prevailing sentiment that the Democrats need to be taught a lesson. If enough of their supporters from 2006 and 2008 stay at home this time, perhaps they will learn a lesson. But the question must be asked, “What will that lesson be?”
Will the Democrats, soon to become a severely chastened minority party, move to the left to recapture the hearts and minds of those who have voluntarily surrendered their right to vote? Will they regard this portion of their electorate as fickle and unreliable, choosing to move further to the right, even further marginalizing the progressives, compensating for their losses by attempting to secure the support of those occupying that elusive “center” of the political continuum? The clear shift to the right under the influence of the deceptively named Tea Party by the Republicans has created a gaping vaccuum in the so-called “center.”
Will the Democrats perceive the stay-at-home progressives as an important constituency to be recaptured at all costs, or simply write them off as not worth the trouble? Even though abortions are still performed in this country, gay marriage is now legal in several states, we haven’t yet adopted a state religion, and a few civil rights still remain, the Republicans can rest easy knowing that the Right to Life movement, the Christian Right, the NRA and the libertarians will show up without fail. And they can still take this for granted even though much that was on these respective factions’ wish lists were not enacted, even with clear Republican majorities from January, 2003 through January, 2007.