Election Day June 24 is upon us, and with it the endemic problem in the frum community: How do you get people to go to the polls and vote? In theory, and indeed in reality, voting is a duty, and intelligent voting is a matter of self-interest. Such is precisely the theory of democracy, and such is precisely how the Founding Fathers designed our American political system. The voters are responsible for seeing to their interests. If they are dumb enough to hand their fates over to unelected powerbrokers, well then they deserve what they get, which means, in the words of Will Rogers, “We get the best government money can buy.” Intelligent self-interest on the part of voters who vote lies at the heart of our American form of government.
Intelligent self-interest operates not only on a personal level but on a communal level as well. Our elected officials have political staffs who closely track all voting, block by block, even house by house. It’s easy with computers nowadays. They have a pretty good idea if you voted or not. They certainly know that the Baltimore frum community is highly concentrated in Park Heights and Greenspring. The receptiveness of elected officials to the desires of the people in their districts is obviously proportionate to the turnout on election day. After all, why should an official be in favor of helping, say, day schools if most proponents of help to day schools don’t even vote?
Most of us know this, of course, but we are lazy – which is a pity, as local elections are often decided in close votes. I am far from expert in Maryland politics, but it seems to me the Gansler-Brown fight may turn out to be a close call. On the other hand, with Maryland being a one-party state, there is no tension whatsoever in the general election. I mean, does anybody even know the name of the Republican candidates? (Don’t cheat and look it up!) I am not saying this is a good thing. It isn’t; healthy politics requires a two-party system, as American history has demonstrated, but Maryland is what it is….
As for the various candidates, well, I’ve never met any supporter of any candidate who wasn’t doing it because he hoped to benefit economically in some way or another. As Disraeli famously quipped, “My opponent is a man of principle; his first principle is self-interest.” So the candidates I don’t know personally, well, I have nothing specific to say about them. Their supporters will give you an earful (and an armful of reading material at the polls, where you have no time to read it). I do know Ronnie and Michelle, because they are friends of mine.
I remember the last time I wrote about the importance of voting, four years ago, Ronnie had lost the preceding election (in 2006) by a lousy 33 votes! Fortunately, last time (2010) a few more people took the trouble to show up and vote, and Ronnie won by over 1,000. So there is hope that readers listen to reason. This time, however, instead of the usual nine or ten people running for Democratic State Central Committee, there are 17! I’m not sure why, but I suppose a wave of idealism for selfless public service has swept over Maryland politicos. But that is not the point.
Looking at the list of candidates, there are a total two members of the frum community running. I recognize another two or three names, and that’s it. Now, I get to vote for seven persons for the committee (so do you), but why would I vote for someone I do not know and who does not know me? I vote for the candidate who will, I hope, be there for me and my community. I will vote for such a candidate regardless of race or gender; after all, why wouldn’t I? The best person is the best person, and external factors play no role for an intelligent voter. I have lived in Baltimore all my life, and I have a long memory, and I am still appalled by our Mayor’s father Pete Rawlings, who eight years ago called on Black voters not to support Barbara Hoffman but rather to vote for someone, as he notoriously put it, “who looks like them, smells like them, and thinks like them”? I just hope Ronnie gets in.
Another friend of mine running is Michelle Lowenthal. She is running for Judge of the Orphan’s Court, which handles wills and estates and guardianship of minors. This is actually a very important position, and Michelle is one of six people running for three slots. She is one of those religious Jews who makes a kiddush Hashem in her public performance. Yet another reason to get out and vote.
Anyway, I wanted to get this off my chest. There are many things we do right as a community. There are some things we do not do well, in my opinion. Getting out the vote is one of them. No one should appreciate the advantages of American democracy more than the observant Jew. No one should be more eager to play his or her part is this remarkable political phenomenon. But I do not see that in Baltimore. There is a mentality that places voting somewhere after every other chore, if then.
Years ago I had a good friend (currently a rosh kollel in a faraway community) who was an enthusiastic Goldwater Republican. This was years and years ago, when Jewish Republicans were kind of rare and strange. Anyway, he used to carry on about politics, in a manner characteristic of some yeshiva types. To my utter surprise, when I once asked him if he had voted in some election (I think it was Reagan), he told me he had never voted in his life! When I asked him about the dissonance between what he said and what he did, he shrugged his shoulders. “And what will you say,” I once asked him, “if your candidate loses, and you did not even bother to vote?”
“Well,” he replied, “If the guy lost by one vote, I’d feel guilty.”
A great political mind at work…
If we all take that attitude, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. How can we expect public officials to take cognizance of our needs if they know most frum Jews do not bother to vote. And the politicians do know. They get the numbers, district by district and block by block. They know. And they draw certain conclusions.
You cannot complain about never winning the lottery if you do not buy a ticket. At the end of the day, as Rav Hutner used to say, “Sof kol sof, ruba deruba, Der Eibishter fiert die welt.” Yes, G-d runs the world, but we are not talking about massive hishtadlus here, just voting, the simple civic duty of every good citizen of the republic.
You can bet that the pols will be at the polls, zealously guarding their interests. How about “the people”? Will we be there guarding our interests? As I said, Ronnie once lost by 33 votes! Oy!
So will I see you at the polls?
