Why Elections Matter and Why We Care About Them Too Much
The title of this piece might seem like an odd statement that could be from the Cheshire Cat rather than be an actual statement of fact. Yet the more general elections, midterm elections, and by-elections of various nations around the world are studied, the less they tend to feel permanent in the long-term, even though they did change history in a definitive, though inconclusive, manner. Elections are important for the simple reason that they set the history of their nation on a specific path that is unknown to any observer either within or outside of their nation. Nevertheless, time passes quickly (though seems to slog for administration opponents) between each election.
An excellent case study is in analyzing the lifespan of the oldest living person at the time of writing, Nabi Tajima of Japan. Tajima was born on August 4, 1900, and is currently 117 years old. While accustomed to hearing about centenarians and supercentenarians on news channels, there is an odd fact concerning Tajima. As she was born several months before the United States’ 1900 presidential election, she has lived through 30 American presidential elections during her years on this earth. By contrast, only 28 presidential elections occurred before her birth. Nabi Tajima has lived throughout the majority of the presidential era in the United States. Her longevity is a reminder of how young our nation actually is and yet how long it has survived.
[pullquote]Nabi Tajima has lived throughout the majority of the presidential era in the United States.[/pullquote]
Politicians and political observers can also show how elections are important at the time but how electoral trends can change frequently and unpredictably. Peter Carington, born in 1919, is the last surviving member of the third Churchill Ministry (1951-1955), the Anthony Eden ministry (1955-1957), and the Harold Macmillan ministries (1957-1963). He is also the last surviving cabinet minister for Alec Douglas-Home (1963-1964) and Edward Heath (1970-1974). He was the Foreign Secretary when the Falklands War commenced in 1982. Carington and pioneering researcher of elections David Butler both served in World War II and are both alive at the time of writing. Since the war, they have seen 20 general elections in the United Kingdom over a period of 72 years. If a general election were equivalent to a quadrennial presidential election, they would have monitored elections for 80 years.
[pullquote]Politicians and political observers can also show how elections are important at the time but how electoral trends can change frequently and unpredictably.[/pullquote]
Elections are crucial in the proposal and enacting of policy, but it is fascinating to think about Tajima, Carington, Butler in the context of longevity. They presumably cared deeply about events that took place in 1945, and, in the cases of Carington and Butler, for every election since. They studied the causes and effects of each government, carefully monitoring the policies of each new prime minister and how they would time general elections to optimally capitalize off of any sort of wave of popular support for the prime minister’s governments. They have seen five years go by without an election and one year where there were two such elections (1974). They presumably cared deeply about each election that they lived through. Now, they are faced with the elections they once cared so deeply about being left for historians to study. The elections that Carington and Butler analyzed are ignored by the majority of people, thought the elections themselves were important and are still important today. All of the time and energy that they put into studying and even in influencing the outcome of the elections in which they participated seem so abstract nowadays.
Nevertheless, elections are still an important and do create concrete changes within the histories of states and nations. There is no doubt that college students, and all other eligible voters, should vote with their conscience in the 2018 midterm elections and in the 2020 general election. But at the same time, there is simply no need for people becoming so invested in the electoral process that it consumes their lives. Major political and movements tend to thrive in opposition. Could the Tea Party have flourished during the presidency of George W. Bush or Donald Trump? Likewise, could the March for our Lives activists and even the #MeToo movement have happened in a presidency other than under a president who is a strong supporter of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and who is accused of sexual harassment. Even if Trump is reelected in 2020, there are always the elections of 2024, 2028, 2032, and so on about which to worry. Also, the midterm elections of 2022, 2026, 2030, and the following ones will also consume quite a bit of energy. There is no need for overwhelming optimism or sinking pessimism no matter how the elections go. In a democracy, elections always carry the promise of a better present and a better future.
Luke Voyles ’18 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at lrvoyles@wustl.edu.