This letter contains (almost) no criticisms of how the Democrats have brought this day of reckoning upon themselves. That -- and where to go from here -- will be the subject of tomorrow's letter.
Today, we have one job and one job only: Stop the return of the bigger criminal class, the Party of War, the people who (with a few Democratic enablers) manufactured the very mess we are in.
There is good news this morning: The final ABC/Washington Post poll shows that, among registered voters, people still say they prefer the Democrats over the Republicans by 5 percentage points. It's only when the pollsters ask "likely voters" who they want that the Republicans come out ahead by a few points.
So it's clear the majority of voters want the Dems, but the prediction is the Republicans will win because Dem voters are going to stay home.
So, our mission is simple: MAKE SURE NO ONE WE KNOW STAYS HOME TODAY. Here's what I am going to do right now and what I'm asking the millions of you reading this to join me in doing:
1. Email, call and/or text every non-Republican in your personal address book and remind them to vote Democratic today. If they (rightfully) complain that the Dems have been disappointing, tell them they're right, then ask them to watch this editorial by Rachel Maddow last night where she correctly lists the dozen or so things this Democratic congress did right -- the types of things we'll never see from the Republicans if they take over (equal pay for women act, taking student loans out of the greedy hands of the banks, funding for our first bullet trains, boosting veterans benefits after Bush refused to for 8 years, etc.).
2. Post a general reminder to vote (and who to vote for) on your facebook page and tweet it to your Twitter followers.
3. If you have the time, go down to a local candidate's HQ or the local Democratic Party office and offer to make calls or give people rides to the polls.
4. Think local. No matter where you are in America, there's someone on the ballot today in your town who deserves your vote. Guaranteed. If you're in Wisconsin and you're pissed at Harry Reid for letting Joe Lieberman derail the public option on health care, don't let that stop you from getting everyone you know to go vote for Russ Feingold. In Florida and furious at the way the Obama administration coddled Wall Street? All the more reason to call every single person you know in the Orlando area to go vote for Alan Grayson. In California and mad about the total Democratic failure on global warming? You can still change the world for the better by showing up with all your friends to vote for Prop 19 to legalize personal use of marijuana (and stop the record numbers of people we put in prison who don't belong there).
5. Explain to anyone who's given up and doesn't want to vote today that Obama was handed a terrible mess that he didn't create. He may now understand he's moved too slow and compromised too much on the big stuff that needed to get done (after all, Goldman Sachs was his #1 private contributor in the 2008 election). But in the last couple months he's made some good moves -- booting some generals, dumping economic advisor/wrecker Larry Summers, and hiring new people like consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren. Things are very bad right now. But they can get MUCH worse. War with Iran? A genuine worldwide Second Great Depression? A Republican Congress will spend every second trying to make it happen.
6. Finally, we must let the Democratic politicians know that our vote comes with one big condition: If they do not straighten up, get a spine and do what we expect of them, we will find alternate candidates to run against them in 2012. And we mean it. Go vote today, but also sign this petition that I'll deliver to every elected Democrat -- the "I'm Voting Democratic But I Will Work to Defeat You Next Time if You Don't Do Your Job" petition, aka "The Democrats on Probation" petition. Let's publicly put them on notice that we'll give them just two more years to start doing the things we elected them to do. If they move one more inch to the "center" or to the right, they will never get our vote again. And we mean business.
Bill Maher said, "We have a center-right party and a crazy party. Over the last 30 years, the Democrats have moved to the right, and the Republicans have moved into a mental hospital." That about sums it up. But he also said, "Sure, I'm mad at the Democrats. I'm also mad at my cell phone company. But I don't throw away my cell phone cause I'm mad and then rub dog shit on my teeth." We all know this isn't the best situation to be in. So consider this one last reason to get out and vote:
There are good people the country has never heard of who are running today all across America, most of them for the first time. Somewhere in this great land right now, the woman who will cast the deciding vote in the Senate for single payer in 2016 is running for mayor of your city in her first big race. Somewhere else, the person who will become the first female president of the United States in 2020 is running for the state house for the first time. Their careers will be over and that future will never be if you don't show up today. Go to theballot.org, find out who's great and running where you live, and then show up to vote for them. You may help light the spark that will save our sorry ass somewhere down the road. Don't just hold your nose today as you go in the booth -- go ignite a future revolution. The only thing that makes the corporate honchos happier than paying no taxes is making sure as few people vote as possible. They think they've bought this election.
Go prove them wrong.
Yours,
Michael Moore
Follow Michael Moore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MMFlint
Ethan Nadelmann: Marijuana Legalization: Not If, But When
Progressives need more representation in government. We need a representative with ballz and an established fan-base.
I saw you on Larry King and Realtime. I would vote for you over Tom Hanks and Oprah!
Mr. Moore, tomorrow means the day after and in your case that means your "tomorrow's letter" should have been delivered Nov. 3. So here it is Nov 5 and still no "tomorrow's letter". What gives?
Depending on your age, after you've seen a couple of decades of politicking, it's the same old crap over and over, and things only get worse. We had a brief moment under Clinton and eight years without war, but then in '98 Summers and the banksters set in motion everything to fail. So please don't tell me to vote for the Democrats when they give me nothing in return for my loyalty.
We're in a pickle, and neither party is going to save us. This is the tyranny our forefathers spoke about. Until we wake up and realize it's not us against us, but it's us against them, nothing will change.
The "man" is not black or white, the "man" is green.
(1) Few bills will get passed.
(2) Democrats will be obliterated in 2012.
Obama has no choice to but to pull a Clinton, where he governs from the center, at all times presenting himself as a reasonable moderate. If he attempts to govern from the far left he'll make the Republicans look like the reasonable moderates.
Course they still have a long ways to go before they are as far right as the U.S.
That is what offends and turns voters off. Plain and simple.
You have to question vote from a person who basically is forced.
Well - we'll see what happens in the next 2 years .... jeez, unbelivable...
Tragically, they were in fact proven right, yet again!
The theory that Democrat victory=successful liberal agenda has just been blown the hell out of the water. From governorships, to state houses, to the House to the Senate.....the message is NOT that the people prefer Republicans, but that we do NOT want a liberal agenda crammed down our throats.
Further, spending us into oblivion is OVER. The government must live like the rest of us- on a budget and within the confines of what we can afford.
Exhibit One:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Textynn?feature=mhum#p/f/3/J9QD1GlWOQQ
Exhibit Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpbEDkpEaxU
Exhibit Three:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-roPKfIXnY
Exhibit four:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/28/obama-foreclosure-program-_n_775553.html
http://www.livestream.com/freespeechtv/video?clipId=flv_17cf5623-2976-4e52-a601-593f09e25ccf