Election Day

The primaries are tomorrow. Don't take this for granted.

RFK: A bold and wise man.

Even in these crazed days, it’s easy to take voting for granted.

What I mean is, it’s easy to get sloppy, lazy, complacent. It’s fairly common for folks to forget to cast a ballot, then say, “Eh, next time” or “Well, it doesn’t really matter.” It’s common to feel frustrated and marginalized. To look at someone like Donald Trump and figure, “It’s all bullshit anyhow. So why bother?”

It’s easy.

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Earlier today, I finished the book, “Robert Kennedy: A Memoir,” written in 1969 by Jack Newfield. I’d purchased the text years ago at an estate sale for the low, low price of 50 cents, and only recently thought to pick it up and read.

And—holy shit. What a brilliant work.

Nearly 58 years since his murder, it’s easy to think of RFK in simple terms: Brother of JFK. Former attorney general. Former senator. Presidential candidate. Shot to death by Sirhan Sirhan. Father of a crazy-ass son.

But, truth be told, RFK was far more than the Wikipedia talking points. He was a man who, in his bones, both loved America and believed in its promise. When, in 1968, he went against the grain to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, he did so not because he aspired to glory or even dreamed of the position. No. RFK ran because he looked at the Vietnam War and couldn’t keep watching the caskets return home. He looked at the inner cities and couldn’t digest the poverty, the hopelessness. He looked at the Mexican farm laborers and couldn’t stomach their suffering, their abuse. He looked at Lyndon Johnson and saw fecklessness, indifference.

So he ran—and, while crisscrossing America, the one thing Robert Kennedy did was beg people to vote. He begged white people to vote and Black people to vote and Latinos to vote. He begged the young to vote and the old to vote. He repeatedly insisted it was a civic responsibility; a key to righteous citizenship. And this wasn’t just a talking point for the man. RFK wanted folks to vote—even if they voted for his rival, Eugene McCarthy. He also saw mass voting numbers as a way to batter the party insiders who resented his candidacy. They might have had the megaphone and spotlight—but they didn’t have the voting numbers.

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I bring this all up because tomorrow, June 2, is primary day in California.

And maybe you’re tired.

And maybe you’re lazy.

And maybe you don’t particularly care whether Spencer Pratt winds up LA’s next mayor, or Young Kim continues as the CA-40 rep. Maybe you’re fed up and indifferent and desperate for a nap.

If so, take a moment and think of how much this day would have meant to Robert F. Kennedy. Think about what he would say were he alive and well.

Then vote.

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PS: This is amazing.