The recent election, the 2014 midterms, should neither be forgotten nor dismissed. They should be studied and remembered for there are lessons to be learned there. While it was doubtless a wipe out for Democratic candidates, snatching from them their last grasp of legislative power, there was also a lesson on how little millions of people care about politics. For percentage wise, the 2014 midterms came in as the lowest voter turnout since the early 1940s when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president and during World War II.
But, what made 2014 distinctive was that many Democratic candidates were running away from President Barack Obama as if he had Ebola. Many of these legislators were so-called, Blue Dog Democrats, or political conservatives, who tried to attract some conservative love by turning their backs on Obama. Didn’t help – most of them got crushed anyway. It might also be noted that Obama himself turned his back on his natural constituency: Black votes. Reasoning that Black voters may be pissed, but there’s really nowhere else to go. So, millions of them sat this one out, a silent non vote of mass disapproval with the state of Black life in 2014 America.
Democratic talking heads began trying to make last minute appeals to Black voters, but it seemed too little too late. Similarly, Black issues are not on the legislative agenda, for politicians run from that just as they ran from Obama. Why? Because liberals fear white backlash. They want Black votes, but afterwards, Blacks are forgotten, till next time. Why support a party that runs from me? Why support a party that doesn’t support you? Questions from the 2014 election. From in prison nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
