It is not as simple as just voting better, more consistently.
The balance of money in politics has taken representation well away from the needs and basic interests of ordinary people. (Among other things.)
There needs to be people and policy to vote for. Tepid turnout is rooted in the lack of both and that is rooted in the money imbalance.
Much of our current body politic is vote against. Secondly, it is often about implied mutual, public good too. What did I just say?
One example is the lesser evil type conversation. Related is the "not those people" conversation. In simple terms, we point to bad, and the idea is get rid of bad, which implies good or better will be the outcome.
The reality is there will simply not be a robust, mutual, public good, unless we are explicit about it. That means positive policy advocacy, a current, national example being Medicare For All. Many other examples are easy to find, once a person begins seeking positive politics.
That is vote for as opposed to vote against.
Finally, we have a lot of fear, blame and shame in our body politic. These things do motivate people, but not all people, and not in the same ways.
Because vote against bad does not necessarily mean we are left with good, or a net progress type gain, many people see this as futile and prefer to put their time anywhere but politics.
What complicates all this is judgement. Voted "wrong", did not vote, and so forth. The reality is we did what we did and we had reasons. Fair enough.
The progress does not come from thrashing about those things. Understanding others and why they made the choices they have made is never a bad thing however. There is a lot more to all of that than many of us will admit. Worth it.
It, this better we crave, need, comes from the votes we will cast together. The votes to come and the reasons for them. I have come to learn I do not want or need to judge others on their politics. I have also learned we all benefit when we demonstrate mutual respect and understanding.
Does not matter why, nor what any of us may think about all of that. It just is lower turnout and often a set of dubious, unexciting choices where we do not have more explicit policy visions to vote for, get behind.
Our remedy is a sustained, positive civic effort. People getting involved and doing so FOR things, basic, important things. Some will run for office, others will organize, others do advocacy, write code, produce media, etc...
A majority of people in the US are really struggling. I won't speak to answers here, just the "why didn't you vote?" part of this discussion.
Lack of vote FOR is why. Being jaded is why. Not being spoken to, or about, relevance is why.
Where we address those things, make basics explicit, people are motivated differently, and that GOTV looks very different from the usual fear, blame and shame dominated GOTV.
Think of this as an add, not a replace.
We can attract voters, ask for votes, explain why.
Notice how infrequently that ask actually happens? I do.
We cannot tell people what to do, and compelling them with fear, blame and shame has it's limits.
More is needed.
I do a lot of election related work. I have noticed people under 35 'ish are responding differently. There is a generational changing of the guard in progress.
New politics, positive, explicit politics are part of this shift.
Make no mistake. Money is a big deal. However, people to people politics is also a thing and it packs a big punch.
Put vote FOR politics out there, speak right to people, and they will turn out and with that, impact the body politic in positive ways. Support those people who put vote FOR politics out there. Few of us can, will run. That is OK. We all can play a role.
A better state of policy will be the most likely outcome.
All that is where my personal time and money goes. Honestly, a good metric seems to be about 5 to 10 percent of our personal time.
That is what I have been doing for a while now. More people are.
I feel better about politics, despite the horror show we have going on right now. I can laugh, as well as lament the pain.
But, I also have positives in play and a growing peer group doing similar things. This helps a lot, and it helps because I understand a lot more about the process and the more immediate impact local politics can have.
National politics is hard. Local is easier, and one can see good happen fairly quickly. It all adds up, in my view.
Voting is vital, but so is being involved. Activism, lending skills and time, simple volunteering all matter a lot more than I see many well meaning, but frustrated, people appear to realize.
One last thing. Nothing I put here is partisan. Examples given may be, but that is not my intent. Better politics happen within a more robust, vibrant body politic, and that is my intent.
Consider placing more trust in that, get involved, share with your friends. All that is where the good stuff is, money or no money. I did, and it helps. Maybe it will for you and yours too.