This is what Democracy looks like and it fills me with hope
by Jon Fox, senior democracy campaigner
The 2016 election was a rollercoaster journey, full of optimistic highs and scary lows. I’ll be honest — this isn’t the original blog post I wrote. Like many, I was hoping (and working) for a different result. But that didn’t happen, and here we are.
The presidential election was big, and a lot of ink has been spilled on what happened. But amidst the darkness, there was a bright ray of optimism that fills me with hope.
I am talking about a national democracy movement that burst up from the grassroots across this nation. From coast to coast, citizens put forth ballot initiatives to restore and strengthen our political system so that it represents We the People and not just the powerful wealthy few. While Trump was kicking out minorities from his rallies, over the past year concerned Americans rolled up their sleeves, got their issue on the ballot, and then worked to engage and inform their fellow citizens. THAT is what true democracy looks like.
At the state and local level, voters took on the different challenges threatening to upend our democracy and proposed different solutions to protect our democratic institutions. In Howard County Maryland, voters broke political candidates’ dependency on mega-donors and passed Question A to provide public campaign finance. In between banning plastic bags and legalizing marijuana, Californians instructed their politicians in D.C. to act on a Constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United with a Yes vote on Proposition #59. The Northwest went big in its fight to reform campaign finance, with Washingtonians voting to overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court ruling with a Yes vote on Initiative 735. Even South Dakota approved IM-22, the South Dakota Anti-Corruption Act, which increases transparency, reduces the power of lobbyists and empowers everyday voters through a small-dollar voucher program. And that is just a sample of the many different state and local initiatives we saw in this election taking on Big Money in politics and protecting every citizen’s fundamental right to be heard.
In the weeks before the election, I was on the ground working to get out the vote for Washington State’s ballot initiatives. I met a spry volunteer who single-handedly collected more than 21,000 signatures at farmers markets and on ferry boats to get I-735 onto the ballot earlier in the year. And she was still at it, working hard and talking to voters to pass I-735 so that we can get one step closer to overturning Citizens United. I worked with energetic canvassers who spoke with more than 3,500 Washingtonians asking them to show up on Election Day and to pledge their support for democracy. I knocked on a few doors myself and talked to fellow citizens about the problems our democracy faces and what we can do to solve them. Not what our politicians can do, not what Clinton or Trump can do, but what WE can do.
Throughout the election voters across the country were subjugated to a concentrated effort to suppress the vote, to keep people down and to keep us away from the table where decisions that shape our shared future are made. But millions of Americans chose not to be beaten down by the dangerous messages discouraging voters. Instead they chose to lift up our democracy and empower everyday Americans so that our voices trump the backroom politics dominated by rich, powerful special interests that have gotten used to getting their way, even at our expense.
To borrow from both presidential candidates — it takes a village to make America great. This election was a stark reminder that American democracy is a team effort. A government of, by and for the people demands every one of us stand up and do our part so that future generations have a safe, sustainable, welcoming and nurturing country to grow in. Over the past months, I saw firsthand the hard work and ongoing effort of a critical and engaged citizenry doing just that. Americans rose to the challenge, took control over their destinies and voted for strong, meaningful democracy reforms in this election.
And that’s exactly the energy and momentum we need. The next four years won’t be easy and won’t be pretty either. But Friends of the Earth is committed to joining forces with partners beyond the environmental community to fight xenophobia, racism, bigotry and misogyny wherever it rears its ugly head. We know how to bring people together and mobilize movements. Have no doubt — we will build on the momentum gained in 2016 to rebuild our democracy, city by city, county by county and state by state.
Take action: Join us and rebuild our democracy.
