Get Out and Vote

by Brian Dugas

Undoubtedly you all know that next week is a very important week, with the elections on Tuesday. I can't remember when an election has seemed to be more important.  My relatives and I have had many discussions around why this is so. Their point is that the oligarchy and corporate interests are in control of our government, and both parties are complicit in the current system. So why vote?

I do think that it is time for changes to our government so that it better reflects the needs of the American people, but it is important to have the right people working on the changes. This time, those people need to be representative of all of the groups of our society that make up our unique culture and I think we have learned from this election,  they need to be caring, kind, and able to cooperate with others with opposing views.  I certainly hope that there are still people like that in our government.

Back in the day, when you could trust a poll, the Pew Research Center was one of the more trusted sources of information that I can remember. I wanted to share with you the results of their polling for the 2024 election.  They asked people what was most important to them, and these are the results for what is “Very Important” on the survey - the average of D and R.

#1 The Economy                                     81%        D68%    R93%
#2 Healthcare                                         65%        D76%    R55%
#3 Supreme Court appointments    63%        D73%     R54%
#4 Foreign Policy                                   63%        D54%    R70%
#5 Violent Crime                                    61%        D46%    R76%
#6 Immigration                                      61%        D39%     R82%
#7 Gun Policy                                          56%        D59%    R53%
#8 Abortion                                             51%        D67%    R35%
#9 Racial and Ethnic Inequality        37%        D56%    R18%
#10 Climate Change                             37%        D62%    R11%    

Tops for Republicans: The Economy, Immigration, and Violent Crime
Tops for Democrats: Healthcare, Supreme Court Appointments, the Economy, and Abortion

It’s interesting to see how the current status of political decisions in America affect these polls.  For example just 35% of Republicans consider Abortion as being very important, while 67% of Democrats do. I'm sure it's not all that important to Republicans since the overturning of Rowe V Wade, and it’s equally very important to Democrats who now have to again fight the battle to establish women’s reproductive rights.  And I won’t even mention Climate Change at the bottom of the list.


And of course this survey does not take into account those very important issues that we all know are just lurking beneath the surface: Voting rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, Gender rights, Christian Nationalism, White Supremacy and Fascism just to name just a few.

The bottom line is that next week we will have the answer to the direction this country will be taking for the next four years. As a congregation our path based upon that election might be very clear, or very convoluted.  I do know that as one of the few liberal churches in the Wyoming Valley we may be at the forefront of the social upheaval occurring across the country whether we like it or not.  It is important to remember that we will determine our way forward together, and that as a community we are strong enough to weather the coming storms.

Next Sunday I will once again be doing the social action minute.  I hope that I will have positive news to share with you.  If not, our work truly begins as we determine our best way forward. One thing for sure, as Ben Franklin famously said after the signing of the Declaration of Independence “We must, indeed, hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately”.

So Get Out and Vote!