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Tuesday November 06, 2012

Responding to the Voices of Disempowerment

Posted by Omar Baddar at 2:26 pm

Recently, there has been an increase in voices, allegedly Arab American ones, arguing that the Arab American community is irrelevant in national politics and should sit out the presidential election. The two main arguments being made are that (a) presidential elections don’t matter altogether and (b) that Arab Americans are too small & spread-out to make a difference. I’ll address these issues individually:

Why Presidential Elections Do Matter

There is no denying that in a political system that is dominated by two parties, there aren’t enough differences between the candidates on many issues. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t differences that can seriously impact the lives of millions of people. Is giving another tax cut to the rich an important way to stimulate the economy, or just another gimmick to increase inequality at the expense of the middle class? Is Obamacare a total waste of money and an infringement on our freedom, or is it a moral imperative for a civilized society to take care of citizens with pre-existing conditions? Is Romney’s red line on Iran’s nuclear capability, shared by Netanyahu and rejected by Obama, a wise policy, or an exceptionally dangerous one? These are but a few differences that do matter. It would’ve been better if there were more big choices to make in this election (and we should certainly work to bring about a more open and inclusive political system), but let’s not pretend that the outcomes of presidential elections make no difference whatsoever.

Why Arab Americans Specifically Can Make a Difference

The Arab American community is indeed relatively small (3-4 million), but there are notable concentrations of the community in contested states like Michigan, Virginia, and Florida. The importance of their political engagement is two-fold: not only can they influence the election by their direct participation in voting, but they can also force the candidates to pay attention to their issues by making themselves a politically organized and visible community. To tell Arab Americans to boycott the political process is to give politicians the green light to ignore us and our issues completely. No community should willingly consign itself to political irrelevance.

All of this, in addition to the importance of getting engaged in local politics, makes a strong case for why Arab Americans should turn out and vote today. Don’t skip voting, it’s the easiest of all the ways to be more politically engaged.

Tagged as Posted by Omar Baddar, Yalla Vote, Election Central, GOTV