Cynicism is Real Enemy of Democracy: Change is Within Our Reach

I’ve heard a bunch of this over the last several weeks: “There’s nothing we can do about it,” “it’s just the way it is” and “I don’t vote anymore because it’s not worth it.”

On our worst, most frustrating day, many of us might be likely to agree.

A few weeks back, Lucy and I headed down to New York City to catch Billy Bragg in concert. He’s been a favorite since I first heard him on the radio in England in 1984. He’s a folkie, a punk, a protest singer and an activist. He’s a self-proclaimed socialist, and he’s not afraid to say it in a country that relies on socialist programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) and considers socialism a mortal sin.

The room was filled with lefties who sang along with Bragg’s love songs, which he delivers in an irresistible East London croak. When he stopped to talk about his political songs, he reminded the audience that music doesn’t change the world, but people who are inspired by music can.

And then he ranted a bit about cynicism is the greatest enemy to progress. It’s not the other guy squealing about how out of control and terrible things are, but it’s the way we begin to shut down and give up when we hear that message again and again.

In this country, and in this town, a lot of people have been mesmerized by the message that change is out of our hands and that there’s nothing we can do about the things we think are wrong. When we begin to think that way, they (whoever they are) have won.

“Things will never change,” people have told me time and again in the last six weeks.

I beg to differ. We’re on the verge of gathering enough signatures to put the first-ever citizen-generated referendum question on the ballot in November.

Maybe it will be the first of many, proving that the real power lies in the hands of people who are willing to turn off the TV, get up off their duffs and do something.

With a primary in a few weeks, and a general election with a crowded slate of candidates, there will be an opportunity for any resident to exercise your vote, the most basic agent of change we have. People on this planet are still dying for their right to vote. None of us should take the privelege for granted. None of us should waste our opportunity to make a difference.