Yep, that’s right. That man is stealing your vote in broad daylight. IMAGE GENERATED BY AI. STORY IS 100% HUMAN.
Voting matters now more than ever
Recently, I was interviewed by a local radio station about a piece I wrote for The Detroit Free Pressrelated to the recent primary election, where I made the point that, regardless of who wins in the general election in November, Detroit’s future isn’t up to just one person. Detroit’s future is up to Detroiters. Mayor Mike Duggan definitely deserves credit for the good things he was able to accomplish during his three terms in office, but Detroit was hardly saved by Duggan alone, which means his exit should not signal the end of Detroit’s progress.
Detroiters got this, I said.
During the course of the interview, when I brought up the Free Press article that revealed how far Detroit voter turnout has plummeted during mayoral elections over the past two decades – a drop of more than 20% - I was asked by one of the interviewers if the low turnout during the primary was really anything to be that concerned about. In other words, was the Free Press making too much out of the fact that only 17% of registered voters showed up at the polls for what most agree may be one of the city’s most consequential elections in recent memory, dating back more than half a century to the election of Mayor Coleman Young, the city’s first Black mayor, in 1973.
While I understand the frustration among some that they aren’t seeing enough change – or at least the change they want to see – to make voting worth their time, I nevertheless responded that voting matters now more than ever. Especially at the local level, where voters have more access to their elected leaders and can therefore have more of a direct and measurable impact. If you are a voter, you have a much better chance of being in the same room with the mayor or a city councilmember and having your voice heard when you scream than you do with the President of the United States.
But the point is that voting matters, whether for local offices or for national. And we can never, ever afford to become so disgusted or disengaged that we allow it to be taken from us. Or worse, voluntarily forfeit the actual power of our vote, effectively handing over control of our own lives without a struggle.
And I know this is hardly an original idea for a column, and that any number of pundits and commentators routinely come back to this essential point about the importance of voting, but those of us who keep banging this drum do so for a reason. And what we see happening around us right now is the essence of that reason. The madness of Trump could not possibly be a stronger warning of what the future holds if we don’t fight right now for our right to vote, because there is a very real possibility that there will not even be a presidential election in 2028 – meaning no chance to vote Trump out – if he has his way. Trump may be deranged and delusional, but he is still conscious enough to know he is fast losing traction with the voters, and that an election most likely will not go his way if the voters are given the chance to choose between him and sanity.
But before we even get to 2028, most Congressional Republicans who are up for re-election next year in 2026 already realize that they are in as much trouble as their Dear Leader because they are considered fruit of the poisonous tree, which is why they are hard at work to rig/steal those elections rather than suffering the consequences of democracy. They’re not even hiding it. What’s going on in Texas, where the Republicans are openly scheming on how to redraw their Congressional map and manufacture five more Republican districts, is only the most recent headline of a story that has gained steam since Trump’s second term but that was in the works during the first. And that has been on the far-right drawing board for decades.
This is not a drill, people. This shit is for real.
The attack on multiple fronts at all times is very exhausting because our brains are not wired to handle it, but this is such an important issue, we can't stop the fight!
The attack on multiple fronts at all times is very exhausting because our brains are not wired to handle it, but this is such an important issue, we can't stop the fight!