Election Day Matters!

Election Day Matters!

If everyone out there who’s worried about the Bush agenda votes on November 5, we can engage in a little regime change of our own. Download , print, post and distribute MoveOn’s free Regime Change Begins at Home poster. MoveOn has also identified numerous Congressional candidates nationwide involved in hotly contested races who by virtue of their antiwar voting record deserve progressive support. The ProgressiveMajority has assembled a similar list .

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There are many good ideas for improving the flawed way that US elections are conducted. Chief among these are Instant Runoff Voting proposals, which would increase voter choice and widen the electorate.

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If everyone out there who’s worried about the Bush agenda votes on November 5, we can engage in a little regime change of our own. Download , print, post and distribute MoveOn’s free Regime Change Begins at Home poster. MoveOn has also identified numerous Congressional candidates nationwide involved in hotly contested races who by virtue of their antiwar voting record deserve progressive support. The ProgressiveMajority has assembled a similar list .

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There are many good ideas for improving the flawed way that US elections are conducted. Chief among these are Instant Runoff Voting proposals, which would increase voter choice and widen the electorate.

Instant Runoff Voting is a way of deciding elections that ensures that a winning candidate receives a majority of votes rather than a simple plurality. The Center for Voting and Democracy offers all the arguments. And check out the IRV activist kit for tips on how you can get involved.

California’s Proposition 52 is also worthy of support. The Election Day Voter Registration iniative (EDVR) is a concrete reform which would allow people to both register and vote on election day. With voter participation at an all-time low (24.6 percent of eligible voters took part in California’s March primaries), Prop 52 should be a no-brainer but its passage is still far from assured.

There are numerous ways you can help make Prop 52 a success : Staffing a phone bank, helping out at campaign headquarters, walking precincts, and, of course, contributing funds, can all make a difference in the last days before the vote.

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Another state ballot iniative that deserves national attention and support is Oregon’s Measure 23 which would ensure access to affordable quality health carefor all Oregon residents through a comprehensive plan providing payment for medically necessary health services. This would be a nice model for the rest of the country if passed.

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New Yorkers: Despite the lackluster gubernatorial campaign, there is a choice this Election Day. Your vote can help build a progressive, multiracial, worker-led movement. How? By voting for Democrat Carl McCall for governor on the Working Families Party line. Read Pull That WFP Lever , from the most recent issue of The Nation for the full argument.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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