The Election is Over: Time to Turn Up the Heat

This opinion piece comes from Countable's Managing Editor, Andrea Seabrook

Dear America,

Great job! You scored a record turn-out for the mid-term elections. Over the last couple of years you've been awake and fired-up, and you used that fire to actually VOTE. Excellent work.

Here's the next challenge: hold on to that fire — in fact, turn up the heat! Use every tool available to keep that civic flame from backing off to a mild simmer. Because the truth is, in our modern governance you must do MORE than vote — you must be the daily election observers of democracy.

What You Can Do

• Don't be duped: Some in Washington use complication and complacency as a tool; the more obscure, unintelligible and booooring an issue is, the easier it is for them to slip it into legislation — under the radar. 
• Vote Every Day: Modern tools like Countable make it easy to stay up to date — without having to dedicate precious hours to master every arcane issue.
• Make it Part of Your Routine: Build in to your schedule a regular review of the work your Reps in Washington are doing. The Daily Countable is a great way to keep current — and keep sane. (Plus, you'll be the most interesting person at the party!)

Why It All Matters

In America today, I see neighbors who distrust each other because of their political beliefs. I see simple kindnesses revoked on the basis of another’s bumper sticker. I see a growing zeal for biting and angry politics, and a rejection of the calm and rational.

It may seem — and is often repeated in the media — that "Americans are historically divided!", "We've never seen such rancor!", and "How can these divisions be resolved?" 

But let's remember another time when we were divided by a violent, virulent politics; a time when one of America's most important leaders emerged: Abraham Lincoln. At the height of those tensions, he said:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

It is in Lincoln's name and with his memory that we continue to believe in, and work for, those better angels.

Join us, engaged and thoughtful people. You're our only hope.

Sincerely,

Andrea Seabrook

Talk to Andrea directly on Twitter, @RadioBabe. Hit the Take Action button to tell your Reps what you think.