2018-08-16 – I saw a Facebook post today urging me to vote. That is fine, as far as it goes, but it won’t really change my behavior. I have voted in every general election since 1972 (when I became eligible under the old rule that you had to be 21 to vote) plus every contested primary. Voting is important but, if you are like me, it’s just business as usual.

If you are discouraged by the state of our politics, voting is not enough. You have to do more.

But I’m going to be modest in my suggestion. If you want to ramp up your participation in our democracy, go out there and INFLUENCE JUST ONE PERSON. That’s all.

Let’s consider the math.

Hillary got almost 66 million votes and beat Trump by 3 million. Let’s say that 10% of Hillary’s voters went out and INFLUENCED JUST ONE PERSON. That would add almost 7 million votes to the total, for a margin of 10 million!

The beauty of this is that, if your target is only ONE PERSON, you don’t have to go door-to-door. You just have to go to door . . .  Get ONE PERSON to change their position (probably hard, but it’s ONLY ONE). Get ONE PERSON who agrees with you but doesn’t vote to vote. This could involve getting them registered. It could involve getting them to the polls. But it’s ONLY ONE PERSON. Right?

If you don’t like these options, here’s another one. Convince someone who disagrees with you that we’re not such bad guys. Convince that person to stay home on election day. C’mon. It’s ONLY ONE PERSON.

And when you’re done with INFLUENCING YOUR ONE PERSON, you’re done. You can stop reading the political news at that point and learn how to knit. . . . (And don’t forget to vote.)

What do you think? Scroll down to comment.

Does this post remind you of a song? Let me know in the comments.

Like what you read? Share with your friends.

If you are new to EightOh9, check out the site and Follow Me by clicking on the Follow button that appears on the screen (lower right).