Just get me 5 votes….

**It may count but how and where do we find you and how do we get you to vote**

I was inspired to write this blog because of that infamous conversation Trump had with the Georgia Secretary of State asking him to FIND votes. Actually “inspired” is probably the wrong word. “Repulsed” is a better fit. However, it got me to thinking…..Can I find 5 persons who I can convince to vote in support of my candidte in the 2024 election?

My answer: Other than finding 5 members of the BASE (and I’m not sure of who and where these folks are so I can approach them), I seriously doubt there are 5 persons who I can convince, convert, or motivate in time for November 2024.

This is why:

Extreemly polarized persons. Minds are made up.

Extreemly indecisive persons. They are forever fence sitters. (Tip: don’t stand behind them in line at the grocery store when the clerk ask “paper or plastic”, you will be there all day)

Extreemly disgusted, disgrunteled, disconnected and distrustfull persons. They are the folks that say things like ….”their all crooked”, “life’s a bitch and then you die”, “it’ll never change”, “the deck is stacked against us”.

Extreemly disinterested persons. They’re folks that say thinks like…”I don’t follow politics” or “that doesn’t concern me”. Getting these folks to vote would be like getting someone who hates broccli to try it. For the record, I’m ok with broccli.

And that brings me back to THE BASE. These are the persons who already support your candidate. We can count on the strong supporters to be voters. It’s those who are lackadasical that we need to make sure they get to the polls. For me, this is what the term “growing the base” means. Time, energy and resources spent on any of the other folks listed in this article might be wasted. The ROI (Return On Investement) concerning them is probably negligible. If we do not sufficiently identify and motivate this “silent majority” among THE BASE and turn them out in such significant numbers so that the opposition is trounced, the election and possibly our democracy is lost.

One last note, so I do not leave with the impression that I have given up on conversing and convincing others. I recently did some soul searching thinking about when was the last time I had a conversation or read or heard something in which I changed my mind or garnered a new perspective. For me it was reading the memoir of Sarah McBride (Titled: Tomorrow Will be Different: Love, Loss & the Fight For Trans Equality). I wanted to give her a shout-out because it provided me with an in-depth understanding and appreciation for issues affiliated with LGBTQ and Trans Persons.

I added this comment since it’s my observation that unless the person you are recruiting to vote in support of your candidate experiences some sort of epithamy, they are not budging from their opposition or their inertia. Since I’m a history buff always watching for the arc of history, I offer the following waatershed moments in USA history when THE BASE sufficiently expanded to enable a redirection of the course of history.

These moments/movements were:

Abolition and the end of slavery (though in many ways the civil war continues)

Suffraget movement…giving women the right to vote.

WW2….collective understanding that we had to crush Hitler and the Japanese emperor

The New Deal and the start of something called Social Security (granted it took The Great Depression for people to warm up to this idea)

The civil rights movement. End of Jim Crow, segregation, etc.

End of the Vietnam war. Recognition that it was time to leave

So what’s the WATERSHED moment we are living in right now? Are we in a watershed moment? I fear we are NOT at that inflection point. There I go again being a glass-half-empty guy. The existential threat posed by global warming is not yet garnering the urgency and collective action required for real change. Hell, the pandemic didn’t create societal solidarity since we continued to quibble about masking, opening/closing schools & businesses and debating the origins of the damed thing.

Oh well, I still support thinking globally and acting locally so I guess I will get busy searching for those 5 votes.

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Written by Greg Dunn

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Boomer who’s a late bloomer to writing/blogging and loving it! Published novel MALL CHILD based on 15 years as weekend mall cop & 40 years as city planner

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