By all accounts, the world is ending. Whether regarding the climate crisis or the upcoming 2024 election, we are constantly being fed the narrative that the end of times is upon us— and quite often, we come to believe it. According to a February 2024 survey by the New York Times, only 23 percent of Democratic voters are enthusiastic about Joe Biden’s nomination; in a 2023 Pew Research survey, 65 percent of Americans said that they often or always feel exhausted when they think about politics. Nor is social media free from these ideas. In an October TikTok post about the 2024 election candidates, one comment, which received 116,000 likes, said, “It’s such a lose-lose situation.” Another remarked, “We are going to cry and pray.”
Through the sensationalism of modern media, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we still have control over our future. Often, the bad can be interpreted as inevitable and fatalism can be construed as fact. The 2024 election will likely be a replay of 2020, and the now set nominees, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, hold little engagement or interest to most Americans. However, as the 2024 election approaches and as many Redwood students go to the ballot box for the first time, it is vital not to give into the notion of the conviction of a negative outcome. In reality, the action we take in these upcoming months is vital to the future. To keep a sense of perspective and enact actual change, it is crucial to maintain a sense of political optimism.
New York Times Opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg spoke to this sentiment in a December 2023 article, urging voters not to give in to pessimism before the 2024 election.
“Before we can fight authoritarianism, we have to fight fatalism… My great hope for 2024 is that anti-Trump Americans can transcend exhaustion, burnout and self-protective pessimism to mobilize once again for the latest, most important election of our lifetimes,” Goldberg wrote. “If you don’t want an even uglier and more despairing replay of [Trump’s years in office], the time to act is now.”
Historically, understanding positive outcomes as possible has been a driving force for social change. In the 1900s, for instance, A coalition of farmers and workers achieved through the Progressive movement the institution of the referendum in the American political system — allowing citizens to vote on laws in their states directly. It was also a referendum that 57 percent of Ohio citizens passed in 2023 to enshrine the right to abortion access in their state.
Yes, the 2022 decision Dobbs v. Jackson marked a significant loss for the abortion rights movement, an end to almost 50 years of codified protection for the right of women to receive an abortion. Yet, in every election since 2022, when abortion rights have been on the ballot, they have won. This resulted from the continual efforts of many people across this country, who did not give in to pessimism and instead worked on what was in their power to change.
Many people can feel like voting is futile, like their actions will have little effect. When this occurs, the strength of our democracy is threatened. There has never been a time when young people’s voices have been more important or their vote more crucial, but many still assume that their vote will have little influence or impact. However, the opposite can be true. In the 2000 Florida election that was eventually taken to the Supreme Court, George W. Bush won Florida by 0.009 percent of the vote, or 537 votes, according to National Geographic. That tiny 0.009 percent changed the result of the election simply because people showed up to vote.
Similarly, according to Pew Research, it was a difference in turnout that led to Republicans gaining control of the House in 2022; while only 3 percent of voters switched parties from 2018 to 2022, 84 percent of 2018 Republican voters turned out to vote in 2022, compared to 74 percent for Democratic voters. This difference proved essential in leading the GOP into their 51 percent to 48 percent victory. Had the Democratic turnout been higher, the current shape of the House could look significantly different.
Yes, there will always be politics that are out of our control; yes, the oceans may continue to rise, and yes, the candidates for the 2024 election may not truly represent the will of many Americans. But those facts should have no bearing on whether or not we as individuals take action where we can. The mindset that the world is ending and that the American government is failing will have no bearing on whether or not it actually does. Whether we believe that the world is ending is irrelevant. Whether or not we take action to combat that fate is what matters.
