Is America Afraid Enough Now To Actually Participate in Democracy?

Sure seems like fear and hate are the things that drive people to the polls.

“Politics are boring.” — Until your rights are taken away.

“It’s too confusing” — Until bullets rip through crowds killing kids and grandfathers.

“People are too busy” — While they watch Twitter, TikTok, and the news for hours, breathlessly watching the latest info on a mass shooting.

“Both sides suck” —One party thinks a ten-year-old rape victim should be forced to bear her rapist’s child, the other one wants to give her the choice to save her life and not spend the rest of her life, if she survives the birth, dealing with even more PTSD and anxiety than she already has.

One party has, in one week, ripped to shreds decades of progress on women’s rights and environmental protections, and next week is liable to undermine the very core of democracy; while the other spends months passing bills to deal with pressing problems such as infrastructure, gun control, price gouging, civil rights, and is investigating an attempted coup.

Now we have two shootings in less than 24 hours, a few weeks back we had a slaughter of schoolchildren.

Are you still bored? Still confused? Still busy? And if not, do you think you’ll stay more interested, more engaged and actively paying attention for more than the next 6 months? Will you do what it takes to rip away all the levels and layers of power the GOP has gained while you were too busy, too bored and too confused?