Daniel Tilson
It’s too late to register to vote in Florida’s 2014 elections. The deadline was yesterday.
Now it’s up to determined Democratic activists to actually get people to vote. Otherwise, we’re looking at four more years of unchecked conservative extremists putting our government at the service of wealthy private interests, rather than you and me.
Likely voters who’ve proven they’ll vote even in non-presidential election years like this one are already voting by mail. It’s all the other people, otherwise known as the majority of eligible voters, who have to be coaxed into electoral action.
Last week I made my personal pitch here, about why even the most disengaged and disgusted of Florida’s eligible voters should still vote in 2014.
Now, I humbly suggest in addition to all the phone banking and other well organized outreach work Democrats are doing the next four weeks, that a concerted effort be made to engage eligible voters in other more casual, personal ways.
Strike up random conversations with strangers at supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants and the like.
Ask if they’re planning on voting, or not.
If not, ask why.
Listen to the answer, and make clear you hear it, with no judgments. Then, pose a few questions and thoughts for their consideration.
Ask if they’d like big cash rebates and tax incentives for switching to solar power systems and getting out from under the thumb of the electric monopolies.
Ask if they’d like to turn the tables on the utilities by charging them for excess solar-generated power.
Assure them these are reachable goals…if Democrats win the governorship and enough seats in the Florida Legislature.
Or, do they want Scott and Republicans to continue taking directions on energy policy – and multimillions in campaign contributions – from FPL and other utility giants?
Ask them to consider the risks that will pose to all our families in the years ahead.
Expanded hydraulic “fracking” and unprotected pipelines for natural gas will put land, water and public health at risk.
Expanded nuclear plant development will run thousands of miles of new power lines through densely populated areas, and increase the risk of a Fukushima-type nuclear disaster for hurricane-prone Florida.
Repetitive electricity rate increases – including extra fees in advance for prospective utility projects that may never get off the ground – will further strain already overburdened household budgets.
Speaking of strains plaguing working poor and middle-class Floridians…
Ask non-voters if they’d like to flip the script on Florida’s anti-middle-class tax system and have rich folks and corporations pay their fair share.
That’s difficult but doable…if Democrats win the governorship and enough more legislative power.
And remember to ask if public education should keep suffering as Republicans keep shifting our tax dollars to religious and for-profit charter schools.
Some non-voters will shrug and say, “They’re going to do whatever they want anyway, what difference does my vote make?”
Wage stagnation, declining household incomes, disappearing upward mobility and increasing poverty, all combine to fuel cynicism and civic disengagement.
The sense of powerlessness to shape or change the course of public policy is palpable in some people.
With empathy, ask:
“So who benefits most from you not voting?”
Raise the possibility that a cohort of socially irresponsible business magnates, millionaires and elected officials have collaborated to cultivate disengagement and non-voting among people who, if engaged and voting, might threaten their power.
Question whether promoting distrust in “Big Government”, generally, might be part of their plan to remain unaccountable for Florida’s specifically bad government.
Then…offer to buy your new non-voting friend a cup of coffee. Help wake them up, ready them for action.
Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
