Responsibility of Citizenship in a Democracy

I have a simple ask, only for your own reflection, about yourself: In 2024 who did you vote for (including all offices, or not voting at all, and why); what have been your feelings since?  How are you going to engage in this conversation in the months preceding the Nov 3 election?

Below are three ‘snapshots’ of the 2024 election; (This is also in pdf President vote 20024 final).

Who voted in 2024?  Here is what the Census said.

Which candidate got how many votes, according to the Federal Elections Commission.

COMMENT: The opening question mentions the 2024 and 2026 elections.  2024 was the once every four years Presidential election; 2026 will be the interim two year election where every one of the 435 members of Congress will be elected to two year terms.

Of course, in each election there are numerous other positions up for election, and there are occasional elections at other times. The Presidential and Congress (House and Senate) are the two I wish to emphasize.

We each have our own feelings about the current state of democracy in the United States.  In mid-April, I wrote my own feeling about this at the beginning of my April 18, 2025, post:

“A year ago [April 18, 2025] we were about half way through the first 100 days of DJT’s second term.  Speaking only for myself, back then I was suspecting the worst, but in retrospect I was grossly underestimating the reality to come, and we’re only in the second year.”

Less than a month later I’m aware that I was underplaying the crisis we are in for our nation as a democratic republic.  We – the folks who can vote – are the only solution.

I’m only a single person, but I’ve known for a long time that I have immense power, if united with an immense number of fellow citizens, and only if I exercise my franchise.  (My dot for 2024 was Kamala Harris.)

You have as much power as I do: one vote.  So do the gaggle of super rich folks who tagged along to China recently.  Of course, temporarily, the Big Kahuna is relishing his status as the most powerful person in the world, but fame is evaporating, if the electorate makes that decision.  We’ll know in less than six months how the country feels for the next two years.

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After the 2024 election I periodically reported the vote counts in the presidential election.  Two of these tallies are above.  There were others which were essentially identical.  I felt, and still feel, that about 90,000,000 of my fellow citizens who could legally vote, didn’t vote at all in 2024.

For today’s post I checked the official tally from the Federal Elections Commission (3rd column above).  It speaks for itself.

In my initial “cut” I excluded the roughly 22% of the population under 18 years of age (about 75 million).  I estimated the number of qualified voters who didn’t vote at all.  This was roughly 176-186 million less the above 75 million. leaving 100-110 million.    Then arbitrary estimates for non-citizens, people disenfranchised (felons, for example), people who missed for reasons out of their control: accident, illness and the like.

90 million seemed (and seems) reasonable.  But I hedged it as “app” (approximate).  It is impossible to come up with an absolute number, even as an estimate, given the onslaught, now beginning, to make it as difficult as possible for certain people to vote.  Still, I can guess:  Many “immigrants” are under the age of 18, for instance.  Others in some cases will be challenged and may not be able to vote because of a suspicious name.  You know the drill.  Some won’t vote because they’re afraid to go, even if totally legal.  Games will be played with numbers, etc.  There is ‘truth’.  But don’t count on it being revealed by the people who know.

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At the minimum we can all encourage everyone qualified to at least register and vote well informed.  There is still plenty of time. An entrance portal for all states is here (Vote.Gov).  At least give it a look.

Democracy itself is under assault.  Look for challenges created by misuse of AI (Artificial Intelligence), finally tuned “alternative facts” which are not facts at all, but difficult to check, etc., etc.  You know the assault is happening in plain sight and in public.  Be skeptical about ‘facts’.  There is truth out there, but it takes more than a cursory look.

Our individual responsibility is to be better informed than ever before, and more in action than is typical.  Each of us is the person who counts the most.

I ask your involvement.

POSTNOTE:  In the process of simply thinking about this post, it comes to mind that with the increasing sophistication of communication technology the ease of deceiving a population is increasing at an alarming rate. Data can easily be manipulated by a skilled communicator (i.e. the carnival barker of the old days) and spread to a large population very easily and quickly.  A simple example: a real but heavily edited film clip of someone who appears to be evil and is made to represent an entire population by inference.  The most famous old political ad which illustrates this might be the Willy Horton ad used effectively in a 1988 presidential campaign – early in the era of mass communication.

In preparing this post, I stumbled across a graphic from the Congressional Budget Office from January, 2026. which to me had the same effect.  I noted especially the focus on immigration, which could make it appear that the country was being overrun by immigrants in the Biden years, less so in the days preceding and following, with no context whatever for the casual observer.  What the graphic shows is what the authorizer of the graphic wanted it to imply.  Reality was not necessarily the intention.

In this day and age the caution caveat emptor – let the buyer beware – is ever more appropriate.

COMMENTS (more below):

from Darleen: Your recent post on our responsibilities as citizens was very insightful and informative, Dick.  Thank you for your continued effort to keep us engaged.

from Kathy: