March 18th, 2018
Written by - Dorothy Bogen '20
Vote. Vote for president. Vote for the Senate. Vote for the House. Vote for governor. Vote for state and local reps. Vote for mayor. Vote on issues and in referendums. Vote for city council. Vote for anything and everything because it’s your right.
The recent events in Parkland have left many young people, myself included, angry and craving political action. This has led to many young people organizing marches, walkouts, and protests. These are all crucial and important steps toward concrete change in this country, but the most effective usher of change is and will be voting. In fact, when you look to the other side we can see this power at work.
Gun rights have been a contentious issue in this country in recent decades as mass shootings have become commonplace and media attention for these tragedies has increased. Given this epidemic, public opinion on guns have illustrated many Americans’ frustration and desire for stricter gun laws. In fact according to a Pew Research poll conducted last spring found that most adults favor stricter gun laws. More specifically, 84% of adults supported universal background checks and 89% supported preventing mentally ill people from buying guns, two provisions frequently demanded for in the wakes of mass shootings. Yet, why haven’t these policies been implemented if there is such clear public support for them? The answer lies in one organization, the NRA.
The NRA’s immense lobbying power has halted any move for change in gun laws in this country for decades. In fact, it is so powerful that in 1996 the NRA convinced Congress to strip the CDC of any funds to research ways to prevent gun violence through the Dickey Amendment. This drought of research has persisted since the initial passage due to continued NRA lobbying every time the CDC requests funds for this research. But, perhaps the most lethal use of political force the NRA has used is its mobilization of the groups’ members when gun issues are brought up. The NRA regularly grades politicians on their support of Second Amendment rights. Politicians who score low are the victims of mass campaigns against them. When those low-scoring politicians are up for election, the NRA distributes literature to its extensive member base and this “propels them to the polls” as according to a recent New York Times article. Therefore, pro-gun rights politicians see vigorous and substantial support from these voters at the polls and this support helps them get elected. So when a tragic mass shooting happens, what is the incentive for these politicians to change their stance? After all those beliefs helped put them into office, so why would they risk losing such a valuable constituency of voters? The answer is these politicians won’t change unless more voters attack them on their stance on gun issues. As much as I would like to believe politicians only work in the best interest of their constituents, I know this cannot be true. Otherwise, politicians would have acted on gun issues already. Politicians work on the basis of getting reelected and the way to get reelected is to get votes. So you can call, email, text, or even scream at your representatives to change (in fact I strongly encourage you to do so) but ultimately politicians won’t care unless they see this resistance at the polls. Voting consistently is the only way to ensure politicians act because if they feel a threat to their power, they will work to change that.
Now, at this point many of you reading are probably wondering why I am pushing so strongly for something many of us in the Laurel community are ineligible to do. Well, I hope this article inspires you to do a couple things. One, encourage those who are eligible to vote to use their right. Since many of you will probably want to join the Parkland students in advocating for safer gun laws, I think this is a valuable addition to protests. Don’t just call your representatives. Call your friends and family members who are eligible and tell them to vote and use their voice at the polls to produce change. Two, remind your representatives of the power of your vote. Just because you can’t vote now doesn’t mean you will never have power at the polls. So our representatives should recognize our opinions because not only are we constituents but we are also future voters. In fact, many of our representatives right now will be up for reelection when we are eligible to vote. For example, our senator Rob Portman (who has an A grade from the NRA by the way) will be up for reelection in 2022, a year in which all of us will most certainly be eligible to vote. Remind them of this fact when you contact them! If your representatives know enough of us will vote in the future based on a certain stance of theirs, they may be motivated to change. Finally, when you can, please remember to vote. Use your power and your rights to promote the change you want to see in the world.
To help you out here are some links that tell you how/when to register to vote in the state of Ohio and general US voting laws:
https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote
https://www.sos.state.oh.us/elections/voters/register/#gref
Also the amazing Sophia Gumbs is hosting a voter registration drive with the League of Women Voters on March 15th so if you will be 18 by the general election in November stop by the table in the main hall and register!
Sources:
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/#total
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/politics/nra-gun-control-florida.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-gun-research-funding-20160614-snap-story.html
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