From Lauren’s Desk: The Need for a Real Choice

On Sunday, Peter and I met in Connecticut to sign and notarize roughly 13 states worth of documentation for certified write-in status in November. The next day at FedEx, I felt the need to explain to the man helping me why I was sending envelopes to so many different states! When he heard I was organizing a third party campaign, he said, “this country is between a rock and a hard place this election. That ain’t a choice.” He encapsulated how many Americans are feeling these days–that, in having to choose between two bad options, they’re really not being given a choice at all. Between the candidates and the realities of the electoral college, many Americans feel especially disenfranchised this year.

A group of ASP members are reading I Never Thought of It That Way, by Monica Guzman, one of the founders of Braver Angels. She points to trends of counties and states becoming increasingly “majority red” or “majority blue,” and the more we live in these silos, the more difficult it can be to find common ground. We observed this sad reality of turning neighbor into enemy on Saturday evening at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania. The major parties are more concerned with keeping us fighting than encouraging us to organize for the better. But in the ASP, we recognize that civility starts with us, with our words and actions, as small as they seem. A vote for us is a vote for electoral reform, a return to decency, and a recognition of our duty to take care of one another.