New Moon Edition June 2025
The hue and cry of political parties continues to rattle every nook and cranny of public discourse. The news launches one volley after another from one camp or the other moment by moment throughout the days and nights of our discontent. Those clever creators of clickbait are having a field day.
There is so much anger and everyone has so much to say. Politics is all about power and only one party has it at the moment. The Executive Branch, Congress, and the Supreme Court, that ultimate trifecta of the levers of control has been captured and the victors are ruthlessly exercising it, much to the dismay of the vanquished. Winner or loser matters not when it comes to engagement – both sides make a lot of noise.
Both of them too believe they have the cure to what ails us. Sadly, neither of them can convince the majority of citizens that they actually do. In election after election at the national level, the winner gets a third of the potential vote, the loser a little less, and the largest percentage of eligible voters do NOT vote. That’s the real story of politics.
Thirty-six percent of eligible voters in the United States do NOT exercise their right to vote (HERE). That’s in years the turn-out is good. The percentage of non-voters often is even higher. The obvious question is: why? Are they too busy? Too lazy? Too what?
It’s a subject that should be examined in detail. It would seem to be an opportunity either party might want to explore – the temptation is to say exploit – as a potential pool of converts. Apparently they don’t. There’s little talk about the matter amidst the cacophony of accusations and positioning they exchange with each other.
“We (Rs or Ds, take your pick) are so clearly in the know about what this country needs, anyone with any sense already has joined us.” They work on their messaging, their influencers, most of all they work on their donors. The undecideds get lots of attention. The uninterested none at all. Those who don’t vote aren’t worth their time. Ironically, the non-voters feel the same way about them (HERE).
The question remains: why? Why don’t people vote? For many of them, the answer is they don’t feel either party represents their interests (HERE). There is a sense that money controls politicians and the policies they produce. Polished political theater is their cover. It’s engaging, it’s entertaining, it stimulates the senses. Back stage, the deals are made and the money gets results. These days the results are extreme.
The number of American billionaires has grown by an order of magnitude this century. During the same twenty-five years, the ranks of homeless in the U.S. has increased ten fold, too. It’s not coincidental. The extremes in the financial position of the social order are divesting more and more people of any hope for the future. The homeless disturb us so profoundly because we realize how economically near many of us are to where they are and how far all of us are from any sort of power to make a difference.
More people don’t vote than do for either party’s candidate. It’s a measure of distrust, disengagement, despair. It’s bankruptcy of hope and aspiration that more than one-third of our citizenry suffers, all those people who no longer believe that either party gives a shit about them, their needs, their potential to do better. Their vote matters only to the degree it empowers one or the other of two parties that give not a damn about improving their situation and never have. They know only the power to sit it out.