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Austin, TX
Joined April 2007
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I feel like every few weeks I am surprised when I pass by the Bastrop County Courthouse on my way to my office at the bookstore.
First, I start seeing the little bunches of campaign signs.
Then I see the white “Early Voting” signs with their big red arrow.
Again?
Seriously, didn’t we just vote?
There was the primary and then the runoffs. Before that, there were some off-cycle ballot measures, city council, mayoral (and I think a runoff for that too?). I’ve lost count of how many there have been!
It can feel like there is an election on a quarterly basis.
And look, if I find it hard to find the time—someone with complete control over my schedule who works a block and a half away—I don’t know how other people do it.
But I always feel a little flutter in my chest when I walk into the basement of the courthouse and vote and see all the people. That’s what I felt two nights ago. I’d just landed after 24 hours of travel from Australia and snuck in to vote a few minutes before they closed for the night. Not just the people but also the volunteers taking the time to make the mechanisms of democracy work.
I might not agree with all these people. They might not agree with me. We might even be cancelling each other out. Still, it’s just a lovely sight.
Voting is the least you can do as a citizen…and at the same time, it means a lot.
A few years back, an election for city council in my little town was decided by two votes.
Two votes!
That’s one couple who stayed home. Or one couple who decided to go to the polls. I read a while ago about a guy named Anton DiSclafani in Alabama who shared a story about voting in a primary where his political beliefs were vastly outnumbered. Yet, despite the odds, his vote became the deciding one. It was literally determined by a single ballot!
This happens way more than you think. Even in presidential elections. Famously, in 2000, the state of Florida which decided who would enter the Oval Office, was decided by 537 votes out of nearly six million cast. In 2008, a U.S. Senate race in Minnesota was decided by 312 votes. In 2020, a congressional race in Iowa was decided by 6 votes. A 2017 state legislative race in Virginia ended in a tie—they eventually had to pull a name out of a bowl to decide who won. The 2016 US presidential election, which saw some 135 million votes, was decided by roughly 77,000 ballots across three states. Michigan, with an adult population of 7.4 million, was swung by just 10,000 voters.
It’s not always so dramatic but considering the very big debates—and hot feelings—about a couple big data centers they want to build out here in rural Texas, I find it interesting that our county commissioner elections are regularly decided by five thousand or so votes…in a county with roughly 100,000 people. Sometimes candidates run unopposed!
People want to have a say in specific issues—they pile into emergency meetings, fill up the comments section on Nextdoor, and pass around petitions—but when they had a chance to have a say just a few months prior, they stayed home.
The single most important practice in Stoic philosophy is differentiating between what we have control over and what we don’t. And the Stoics accepted that a lot is not in our control. We don’t control the weather. We don’t control the economy. We don’t control the traffic. In the political sphere, we don’t control the bottomless greed and grievances of some politicians. We don’t control the bottomless incompetence of others. We don’t control the corruption or the dark money that has flooded politics. We don’t control how much of the population doesn’t bother voting. We don’t control the gerrymandering and voter suppression. We don’t control who ultimately gets elected.
That’s all outside of our control. But the act of casting a ballot is in our control. We control whether or not we engage in the democratic process. And the Stoics are explicit on this point: the philosopher, they said, is obligated to contribute to the polis, and to participate in politics. This is an essential difference between the Epicureans and the Stoics (Seneca said, “Epicurus says: ‘The wise man will not engage in public affairs except in an emergency.’ Zeno says: ‘He will engage in public affairs unless something prevents him.’”)
When I talked to Sebastian Junger on the Daily Stoic podcast not too long ago, he told me he’s often asked how to feel necessary, how to feel like you’re making a difference, in a great big world where any one person’s contribution can seem insignificant. “And it’s actually surprisingly easy,” Junger said. “I always say there are three ways to be a meaningful part of society. None of them are heroic, but if no one does these things, there is no society. First, donate blood. Second, serve jury duty if called upon. And the final one is, vote. You don’t have to vote, but if you don’t vote, you kind of deserve what you get.”
I try to do all those things. I’ve never actually been called to a jury but I give blood every two months or so…and these days it seems like I have to vote that often as well. It can be a little bit of a pain to do either, but it matters. It matters to the person who gets your donation. It matters to you to be the person who gave the donation.
It’s also the grown-up, responsible thing to do.
Don’t boo.
Don’t complain.
Don’t tweet.
Be an adult.
Make the time.
Go read up on the candidates. Check them for the virtues necessary in a leader. Examine their platform for bullshit and demagoguery. Drive over and wait in line. Understand no one will check every box, but pick the one you can best trust with the responsibilities of power and the common good. Accept that your vote, statistically, probably won’t decide things. Be OK with that and do it anyway.
Do your job. Make your contribution to society.
It adds up. It does matter.
Vote.
How To Use The 48 Laws of Power In Your Career | Robert Greene @RobertGreene | Watch the Full Video Here youtu.be/yKDN_x8dq4Q
- Setbacks are a fact of life
- The unexpected blows fall heaviest
- It’s impossible to prevent something you’re unaware of
- Because we prepared, we see an opportunity where others see an obstacle
One of the things that separates us from other people is our ability to be strict and self-disciplined.
Where other people are fine making excuses or taking shortcuts, we are not.
Where other people wing it or do what’s easiest, taking the path of least resistance, we don’t.
Robert Greene: @RobertGreene How To Make Powerful People Want To Mentor You | Watch The Full Video Here youtu.be/yKDN_x8dq4Q?is=wUr_…
Some ways to find stillness right now:
- Go for a solo nature walk
- Write in a journal
- Lock into a creative activity
- Vigorous exercise: run laps, swim
- Help someone else
Be open-minded and content to let others live and think as they wish.
Not only that, but relish the opportunity to have your own views challenged, because you know you grow stronger for it.
3 Must-Read Books on Stoicism:
– Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
– Discourse and Selected Writings by Epictetus
– Letters from a Stoic by Seneca