There's no such thing as not voting
-
0:01 - 0:02Why bother?
-
0:05 - 0:06The game is rigged.
-
0:06 - 0:07My vote won't count.
-
0:09 - 0:10The choices are terrible.
-
0:11 - 0:12Voting is for suckers.
-
0:13 - 0:15Perhaps you've thought
some of these things. -
0:15 - 0:17Perhaps you've even said them.
-
0:18 - 0:21And if so, you wouldn't be alone,
and you wouldn't be entirely wrong. -
0:22 - 0:26The game of public policy today
is rigged in many ways. -
0:26 - 0:30How else would more than half
of federal tax breaks -
0:30 - 0:33flow up to the wealthiest
five percent of Americans? -
0:33 - 0:36And our choices indeed are often terrible.
-
0:36 - 0:39For many people
across the political spectrum, -
0:39 - 0:42Exhibit A is the 2016
presidential election. -
0:43 - 0:45But in any year, you can look
up and down the ballot -
0:45 - 0:48and find plenty to be uninspired about.
-
0:50 - 0:53But in spite of all this,
I still believe voting matters. -
0:53 - 0:55And crazy as it may sound,
-
0:55 - 0:57I believe we can revive the joy of voting.
-
0:58 - 1:01Today, I want to talk
about how we can do that, and why. -
1:03 - 1:06There used to be a time
in American history when voting was fun, -
1:06 - 1:09when it was much more than just
a grim duty to show up at the polls. -
1:10 - 1:12That time is called
"most of American history." -
1:13 - 1:14(Laughter)
-
1:14 - 1:17From the Revolution
to the Civil Rights Era, -
1:17 - 1:19the United States had a vibrant,
-
1:19 - 1:23robustly participatory
and raucous culture of voting. -
1:23 - 1:28It was street theater, open-air debates,
fasting and feasting and toasting, -
1:28 - 1:30parades and bonfires.
-
1:30 - 1:33During the 19th century,
immigrants and urban political machines -
1:33 - 1:35helped fuel this culture of voting.
-
1:36 - 1:40That culture grew with each
successive wave of new voters. -
1:41 - 1:44During Reconstruction,
when new African-American voters, -
1:44 - 1:46new African-American citizens,
-
1:47 - 1:49began to exercise their power,
-
1:49 - 1:51they celebrated in jubilee parades
-
1:51 - 1:54that connected emancipation
with their newfound right to vote. -
1:55 - 1:57A few decades later, the suffragettes
-
1:58 - 2:01brought a spirit
of theatricality to their fight, -
2:01 - 2:04marching together in white dresses
as they claimed the franchise. -
2:05 - 2:06And the Civil Rights Movement,
-
2:06 - 2:09which sought to redeem
the promise of equal citizenship -
2:09 - 2:11that had been betrayed by Jim Crow,
-
2:12 - 2:13put voting right at the center.
-
2:14 - 2:17From Freedom Summer to the march in Selma,
-
2:17 - 2:20that generation of activists
knew that voting matters, -
2:20 - 2:23and they knew that spectacle
and the performance of power -
2:23 - 2:25is key to actually claiming power.
-
2:27 - 2:30But it's been over a half century
since Selma and the Voting Rights Act, -
2:31 - 2:33and in the decades since,
-
2:33 - 2:35this face-to-face culture of voting
-
2:35 - 2:37has just about disappeared.
-
2:37 - 2:39It's been killed by television
-
2:39 - 2:41and then the internet.
-
2:41 - 2:43The couch has replaced the commons.
-
2:43 - 2:46Screens have made
citizens into spectators. -
2:46 - 2:49And while it's nice to share
political memes on social media, -
2:49 - 2:52that's a rather quiet kind of citizenship.
-
2:53 - 2:56It's what the sociologist Sherry Turkle
calls "being alone together." -
2:57 - 2:59What we need today
-
2:59 - 3:03is an electoral culture
that is about being together together, -
3:03 - 3:04in person,
-
3:04 - 3:06in loud and passionate ways,
-
3:06 - 3:10so that instead of being
"eat your vegetables" or "do you duty," -
3:10 - 3:13voting can feel more like "join the club"
-
3:13 - 3:15or, better yet, "join the party."
-
3:16 - 3:20Imagine if we had,
across the country right now, -
3:20 - 3:23in local places but nationwide,
-
3:23 - 3:26a concerted effort
to revive a face-to-face set of ways -
3:26 - 3:28to engage and electioneer:
-
3:29 - 3:32outdoor shows in which candidates
and their causes are mocked -
3:32 - 3:35and praised in broad satirical style;
-
3:35 - 3:37soapbox speeches by citizens;
-
3:38 - 3:40public debates held inside pubs;
-
3:42 - 3:47streets filled with political art
and handmade posters and murals; -
3:47 - 3:52battle of the band concerts in which
competing performers rep their candidates. -
3:52 - 3:56Now, all of this may sound
a little bit 18th century to you, -
3:56 - 4:00but in fact, it doesn't have to be
any more 18th century -
4:00 - 4:03than, say, Broadway's "Hamilton,"
-
4:03 - 4:05which is to say vibrantly contemporary.
-
4:06 - 4:08And the fact is that all around the world,
-
4:08 - 4:11today, millions of people
are voting like this. -
4:11 - 4:16In India, elections are colorful,
communal affairs. -
4:16 - 4:20In Brazil, election day
is a festive, carnival-type atmosphere. -
4:21 - 4:23In Taiwan and Hong Kong,
there is a spectacle, -
4:23 - 4:26eye-popping, eye-grabbing spectacle
-
4:26 - 4:28to the street theater of elections.
-
4:29 - 4:32You might ask, well,
here in America, who has time for this? -
4:32 - 4:34And I would tell you
-
4:34 - 4:37that the average American
watches five hours of television a day. -
4:38 - 4:41You might ask, who has the motivation?
-
4:41 - 4:42And I'll tell you,
-
4:42 - 4:46any citizen who wants to be seen and heard
-
4:46 - 4:48not as a prop, not as a talking point,
-
4:48 - 4:51but as a participant, as a creator.
-
4:52 - 4:54Well, how do we make this happen?
-
4:55 - 4:56Simply by making it happen.
-
4:57 - 4:59That's why a group of colleagues and I
-
4:59 - 5:02launched a new project
called "The Joy of Voting." -
5:03 - 5:05In four cities across the United States --
-
5:05 - 5:07Philadelphia, Miami,
-
5:07 - 5:09Akron, Ohio, and Wichita, Kansas --
-
5:10 - 5:12we've gathered together
artists and activists, -
5:12 - 5:16educators, political folks,
neighbors, everyday citizens -
5:16 - 5:18to come together and create projects
-
5:18 - 5:22that can foster this culture
of voting in a local way. -
5:22 - 5:25In Miami, that means
all-night parties with hot DJs -
5:25 - 5:29where the only way to get in
is to show that you're registered to vote. -
5:29 - 5:32In Akron, it means political plays
-
5:32 - 5:35being performed
in the bed of a flatbed truck -
5:35 - 5:37that moves from neighborhood
to neighborhood. -
5:38 - 5:39In Philadelphia,
-
5:39 - 5:43it's a voting-themed scavenger hunt
all throughout colonial old town. -
5:43 - 5:48And in Wichita, it's making
mixtapes and live graffiti art -
5:48 - 5:50in the North End to get out the vote.
-
5:51 - 5:52There are 20 of these projects,
-
5:52 - 5:55and they are remarkable
in their beauty and their diversity, -
5:55 - 5:57and they are changing people.
-
5:57 - 5:59Let me tell you about a couple of them.
-
5:59 - 6:01In Miami, we've commissioned and artist,
-
6:01 - 6:03a young artist named Atomico,
-
6:03 - 6:07to create some vivid and vibrant images
for a new series of "I voted" stickers. -
6:08 - 6:10But the thing is, Atomico had never voted.
-
6:11 - 6:13He wasn't even registered.
-
6:13 - 6:17So as he got to work on creating
this artwork for these stickers, -
6:17 - 6:21he also began to get over
his sense of intimidation about politics. -
6:21 - 6:23He got himself registered,
-
6:23 - 6:26and then he got educated
about the upcoming primary election, -
6:26 - 6:30and on election day he was out there
not just passing out stickers, -
6:30 - 6:32but chatting up voters
and encouraging people to vote, -
6:32 - 6:35and talking about
the election with passersby. -
6:36 - 6:39In Akron, a theater company
called the Wandering Aesthetics -
6:40 - 6:42has been putting on
these pickup truck plays. -
6:42 - 6:45And to do so, they put out
an open call to the public -
6:45 - 6:49asking for speeches,
monologues, dialogues, poems, -
6:49 - 6:51snippets of anything
that could be read aloud -
6:51 - 6:53and woven into a performance.
-
6:53 - 6:55They got dozens of submissions.
-
6:56 - 6:58One of them was a poem
-
6:58 - 7:01written by nine students in an ESL class,
-
7:01 - 7:03all of them Hispanic migrant workers
-
7:03 - 7:05from nearby Hartville, Ohio.
-
7:06 - 7:08I want to read to you from this poem.
-
7:09 - 7:11It's called "The Joy of Voting."
-
7:13 - 7:15"I would like to vote for the first time
-
7:15 - 7:17because things are changing for Hispanics.
-
7:18 - 7:20I used to be afraid of ghosts.
-
7:20 - 7:21Now I am afraid of people.
-
7:22 - 7:24There's more violence and racism.
-
7:25 - 7:26Voting can change this.
-
7:28 - 7:29The border wall is nothing.
-
7:30 - 7:31It's just a wall.
-
7:32 - 7:35The wall of shame is something.
-
7:36 - 7:38It's very important to vote
-
7:38 - 7:40so we can break down this wall of shame.
-
7:41 - 7:43I have passion in my heart.
-
7:43 - 7:46Voting gives me a voice and power.
-
7:46 - 7:49I can stand up and do something."
-
7:51 - 7:54"The Joy of Voting" project
isn't just about joy. -
7:54 - 7:55It's about this passion.
-
7:55 - 7:58It's about feeling and belief,
-
7:58 - 8:00and it isn't just our organization's work.
-
8:01 - 8:02All across this country right now,
-
8:03 - 8:06immigrants, young people, veterans,
people of all different backgrounds -
8:06 - 8:09are coming together to create
this kind of passionate, joyful activity -
8:09 - 8:11around elections,
-
8:11 - 8:14in red and blue states,
in urban and rural communities, -
8:14 - 8:16people of every political background.
-
8:16 - 8:19What they have in common is simply this:
-
8:19 - 8:21their work is rooted in place.
-
8:22 - 8:25Because remember,
all citizenship is local. -
8:26 - 8:29When politics becomes
just a presidential election, -
8:29 - 8:33we yell and we scream at our screens,
and then we collapse, exhausted. -
8:34 - 8:37But when politics is about us
-
8:37 - 8:40and our neighbors
and other people in our community -
8:40 - 8:44coming together to create experiences
of collective voice and imagination, -
8:45 - 8:48then we begin to remember
that this stuff matters. -
8:49 - 8:52We begin to remember
that this is the stuff of self-government. -
8:53 - 8:55Which brings me back to where I began.
-
8:56 - 8:57Why bother?
-
8:58 - 9:00There's one way to answer this question.
-
9:00 - 9:05Voting matters because it is
a self-fulfilling act of belief. -
9:05 - 9:10It feeds the spirit of mutual interest
that makes any society thrive. -
9:11 - 9:14When we vote, even if it is in anger,
-
9:14 - 9:17we are part of a collective,
creative leap of faith. -
9:18 - 9:21Voting helps us generate
the very power that we wish we had. -
9:22 - 9:25It's no accident
that democracy and theater -
9:25 - 9:27emerged around the same time
in ancient Athens. -
9:28 - 9:32Both of them yank the individual
out of the enclosure of her private self. -
9:33 - 9:37Both of them create great
public experiences of shared ritual. -
9:38 - 9:41Both of them bring the imagination to life
-
9:41 - 9:44in ways that remind us
that all of our bonds in the end -
9:44 - 9:47are imagined, and can be reimagined.
-
9:51 - 9:52This moment right now,
-
9:53 - 9:56when we think about
the meaning of imagination, -
9:56 - 9:59is so fundamentally important,
-
10:00 - 10:04and our ability to take that spirit
-
10:04 - 10:05and to take that sense
-
10:05 - 10:07that there is something greater out there,
-
10:07 - 10:11is not just a matter
of technical expertise. -
10:11 - 10:14It's not just a matter of making the time
or having the know-how. -
10:14 - 10:16It is a matter of spirit.
-
10:17 - 10:20But let me give you an answer
to this question, "Why bother?" -
10:20 - 10:23that is maybe a little less spiritual
and a bit more pointed. -
10:24 - 10:26Why bother voting?
-
10:26 - 10:29Because there is
no such thing as not voting. -
10:29 - 10:31Not voting is voting,
-
10:31 - 10:34for everything that you
may detest and oppose. -
10:34 - 10:36Not voting can be dressed up
-
10:36 - 10:39as an act of principled,
passive resistance, -
10:39 - 10:41but in fact not voting
-
10:41 - 10:43is actively handing power over
-
10:43 - 10:45to those whose interests
are counter to your own, -
10:45 - 10:49and those who would be very glad
to take advantage of your absence. -
10:49 - 10:51Not voting is for suckers.
-
10:53 - 10:54Imagine where this country would be
-
10:55 - 10:58if all the folks who in 2010
created the Tea Party -
10:58 - 11:01had decided that,
you know, politics is too messy, -
11:01 - 11:02voting is too complicated.
-
11:02 - 11:05There is no possibility
of our votes adding up to anything. -
11:05 - 11:08They didn't preemptively
silence themselves. -
11:08 - 11:09They showed up,
-
11:09 - 11:13and in the course of showing up,
they changed American politics. -
11:13 - 11:18Imagine if all of the followers
of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders -
11:18 - 11:22had decided not to upend
the political status quo -
11:22 - 11:25and blow apart the frame
of the previously possible -
11:25 - 11:27in American politics.
-
11:27 - 11:29They did that by voting.
-
11:31 - 11:33We live in a time right now,
-
11:33 - 11:36divided, often very dark,
-
11:36 - 11:40where across the left and the right,
there's a lot of talk of revolution -
11:40 - 11:43and the need for revolution
to disrupt everyday democracy. -
11:43 - 11:45Well, here's the thing:
-
11:45 - 11:48everyday democracy already
gives us a playbook for revolution. -
11:49 - 11:51In the 2012 presidential election,
-
11:51 - 11:53young voters, Latino voters,
-
11:53 - 11:55Asian-American voters, low-income voters,
-
11:55 - 11:57all showed up at less than 50 percent.
-
11:59 - 12:03In the 2014 midterm elections,
turnout was 36 percent, -
12:03 - 12:05which was a 70-year low.
-
12:06 - 12:08And in your average local election,
-
12:08 - 12:10turnout hovers
somewhere around 20 percent. -
12:11 - 12:15I invite you to imagine 100 percent.
-
12:16 - 12:17Picture 100 percent.
-
12:18 - 12:20Mobilize 100 percent,
-
12:20 - 12:22and overnight, we get revolution.
-
12:23 - 12:27Overnight, the policy priorities
of this country change dramatically, -
12:27 - 12:31and every level of government
becomes radically more responsive -
12:31 - 12:32to all the people.
-
12:33 - 12:36What would it take
to mobilize 100 percent? -
12:36 - 12:39Well, we do have to push back
against efforts afoot -
12:39 - 12:41all across the country right now
-
12:41 - 12:42to make voting harder.
-
12:42 - 12:44But at the same time,
-
12:44 - 12:47we have to actively create
a positive culture of voting -
12:47 - 12:49that people want to belong to,
-
12:49 - 12:51be part of, and experience together.
-
12:51 - 12:53We have to make purpose.
-
12:53 - 12:54We have to make joy.
-
12:55 - 12:58So yes, let's have that revolution,
-
12:58 - 13:00a revolution of spirit, of ideas,
-
13:00 - 13:02of policy and participation,
-
13:02 - 13:05a revolution against cynicism,
-
13:05 - 13:08a revolution against the self-fulfilling
sense of powerlessness. -
13:09 - 13:12Let's vote this revolution into existence,
-
13:12 - 13:13and while we're at it,
-
13:13 - 13:15let's have some fun.
-
13:15 - 13:16Thank you very much.
-
13:16 - 13:18(Applause)
- Title:
- There's no such thing as not voting
- Speaker:
- Eric Liu
- Description:
-
Eric Liu speaks at TEDNYC
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:33
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for Let's make voting fun again |