Dear Reader,

I spent last week canvassing in Philadelphia.

For me, going out and canvassing is an act of love, an act of working for our world, for our country, and for all people in the ways I know best to do at this particular moment.

Yesterday, when I got home, I spent some time trying to put my experiences into words and found myself unable to do it very well.

Then my daughter, Simone, sent me an article she wrote about her experience canvassing in Michigan this month. I found it captured so well many of my experiences, and I found it so moving that I thought perhaps I could share that with you. Though Simone is talking about young voters, I think what she says applies to many voters.

Because we live in a democracy, and because I believe in each of us speaking out, I'm sharing our thoughts here. Whether you agree with our politics or not, you are very welcome in this community. (Some of the most interesting conversations I had in Philadelphia were with Trump supporters.)

We don’t know what the future holds, but I hope that in these last days before the election, we’ll be able to get out the vote and work to keep our democracy alive. I'm trying to remain active and centered in my own agency instead of either ignoring what's happening or passively doom scrolling. :)

And there's still time to get involved! If you're interested, I suggest checking out Swing Left for concrete ways to make a difference (through canvassing, phone banking, etc.) in this final week.

with heart,
Nadia

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Why This Election Should Matter to Young Voters

by Simone Colburn

I’m twenty, and this is the first time I’ll be voting in a Presidential election. For the past three weeks, I put my college life on hold and traveled to Michigan to spend over forty hours a week working to elect Kamala Harris. I devoted my time to the campaign and also urged busy, well-meaning Michiganders to volunteer for tedious phone banks in hopes of turning the state blue.My rights to my own body as a woman are on the ballot this year. My future as a young person in a livable climate is on the line. Access to health care, affordable housing, and economic equity are all at stake. When I imagine the possibility of watching the polls come in on November 5th and finding out that Harris lost Michigan as a swing state or lost the election as a whole, I feel a sense of physical fear running through my body. But while the stakes of this election are clear to me, I was discouraged to encounter many young voters who either are not voting at all or are voting for a third-party candidate.

At Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University, students repeatedly informed me they were not planning to vote. When asked why, they would respond with “I don’t do politics” or “I don’t think politics apply to my daily life.” By the time these students are of age to vote in their first presidential election, they have already lost trust in the political system.

Out canvassing, I was met at the door by a bubbly four-year-old who called into her dad “A girl is here to talk to you!” As I waited, the four-year-old told me about her Buzz Lightyear Halloween costume and was excited to have an audience for her big jump from the first step to the living room rug. When the young dad reluctantly came to the door, he said he wasn’t voting because he didn’t think politics would do anything for him. I couldn’t help but notice his daughter, peeking out behind him, whose future would undoubtedly be influenced by the election.

One afternoon, at the University of Michigan, I called out to a man in his early twenties whose slightly crunchy alternative outfit perfectly fit the Harris supporter ticket; “Hi! Are you planning on supporting Kamala Harris in the upcoming election?” To my surprise, he told me he is voting third party this election. My peers and I sympathized with his concern for Gaza and agreed that Democrats, including Harris, must push for a ceasefire, but argued that voting third party does nothing to help Palestinians. We then tried to engage with him on other issues. He agreed with our stances on health care, the environment, and immigration, but believed that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats would make sufficient progress toward our visions. In his opinion, the Democrats and the Republicans are both only out for themselves and there is too much corruption within the parties to lead to any real change.

Even as I was dedicating my time to the Harris campaign, I sympathized with the dissatisfaction with American politics. In many ways, America’s political campaign model is not structured to speak to the everyday citizen. We, as youth and as the American public, deserve elected officials who will listen to our concerns and address our needs head-on, putting the people first.

However, not voting or voting for a third-party candidate will not bring about real change. Last year, I took a course with Srđa Popović, a leader of Serbia’s 1998 student movement, Otpor. Popović explained that social movements often gravitate toward withholding their votes, but this is rarely effective. Political decisions have to be made with an understanding of how the action will work toward a goal.

America’s winner-takes-all two-party system continually leaves us with a choice between two, between the “lesser of two evils,” yet the differences between these two evils are enormous. Our daily lives are and will be undoubtedly influenced by who is president. 63% of Americans support public healthcare; 66% of Americans believe developing clean energy should be a priority for the president and Congress; 86% of Americans would like to raise the minimum wage; and 87% of Americans worry about the cost of housing. Harris lays out her plans to defend the Affordable Care Act and expand Medicare while Trump has attempted to repeal ACA and now has mere “concepts of a plan.” The Harris-Biden administration passed the most comprehensive climate legislation the U.S. has ever seen with The Inflation Reduction Act, while Trump calls climate change a hoax, will stop investing in renewable energy, and instead plans to “end market-distorting restrictions on Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal.” Harris grew up in a middle-class family with a working mom and calls for a $15 minimum wage while Trump places all the blame on immigrants, avoiding any commitment to concrete policy for workers' rights, and continuously supports union busting. Harris plans to build 3 million new housing units and has promised 25 thousand dollars in tax cuts to every qualified first-time homebuyer while Trump’s tariffs have caused and will exacerbate the hyperinflation of housing prices. The factual side-by-side comparisons continue, including the Biden-Harris administration’s student loan debt forgiveness and Trump’s tax cuts on the wealthy.

Regardless of our frustration with party politics and politicians' distance from young voters, this election will affect us and will affect the viability of democracy around the world, not to mention the health of our communities, cities, and planet. We have to ensure that our voices, as the future of the country and as the majority of Americans, are represented. In the 2020 election, only half of the youth turned out to vote. The fact is that millionaires with corporate interests will undoubtedly be voting, and citizens over the age of 60 are over 20% more likely to vote than youth.

When we show that we are a large part of the candidates’ voter-block, they are more motivated to speak to us and listen to and respond to our concerns.

As Connor, the campaign’s Ann Arbor Youth Regional Organizer, says, “No matter what, we’re going to wake up after November 5th and either Trump or Harris will have won. That is the reality. We don’t want to wake up with any regrets.”

PS: There's still time to get involved! Check out Swing Left.