Why bother? The game is rigged. My vote won't count. The choices are terrible. Voting is for suckers.
Zakaj bi si delali sitnosti? Igra je manipulirana. Moj glas ne šteje. Izbira je grozna. Volitve so za zgube.
Perhaps you've thought some of these things. Perhaps you've even said them. And if so, you wouldn't be alone, and you wouldn't be entirely wrong. The game of public policy today is rigged in many ways. How else would more than half of federal tax breaks flow up to the wealthiest five percent of Americans? And our choices indeed are often terrible. For many people across the political spectrum, Exhibit A is the 2016 presidential election. But in any year, you can look up and down the ballot and find plenty to be uninspired about.
Morda tudi vas prešinja kaj takega. Morda ste to celo izrekli. Ne bi bili edini in ne bi se popolnoma motili. Igra politike je danes v mnogočem manipulirana. Kako bi sicer več kot polovico davčnih olajšav imelo najbogatejših pet odstotkov Američanov? In izbira je pogosto res grozna. Za ljudi vseh političnih nazorov so glavni dokaz predsedniške volitve 2016. A katerokoli leto pogledate na glasovnico, boste našli malo navdiha.
But in spite of all this, I still believe voting matters. And crazy as it may sound, I believe we can revive the joy of voting. Today, I want to talk about how we can do that, and why.
Vsemu navkljub menim, da so volitve pomembne. In naj se sliši še tako noro, verjamem, da lahko vrnemo veselje do glasovanja. Rad bi vam povedal, kako in zakaj.
There used to be a time in American history when voting was fun, when it was much more than just a grim duty to show up at the polls. That time is called "most of American history."
Nekoč so bile volitve v Ameriki zabavne, ni šlo le za turobno dolžnost priti na volišče. Ta čas se imenuje "večina ameriške zgodovine".
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
From the Revolution to the Civil Rights Era, the United States had a vibrant, robustly participatory and raucous culture of voting. It was street theater, open-air debates, fasting and feasting and toasting, parades and bonfires. During the 19th century, immigrants and urban political machines helped fuel this culture of voting. That culture grew with each successive wave of new voters. During Reconstruction, when new African-American voters, new African-American citizens, began to exercise their power, they celebrated in jubilee parades that connected emancipation with their newfound right to vote. A few decades later, the suffragettes brought a spirit of theatricality to their fight, marching together in white dresses as they claimed the franchise. And the Civil Rights Movement, which sought to redeem the promise of equal citizenship that had been betrayed by Jim Crow, put voting right at the center. From Freedom Summer to the march in Selma, that generation of activists knew that voting matters, and they knew that spectacle and the performance of power is key to actually claiming power.
Od revolucije do boja za državljanske pravice so ZDA imele živo močno participatorno in glasno kulturo glasovanja. Šlo je za ulično gledališče, razprave na prostem, post in gostijo, zdravice, parade in krese. V 19. stoletju so priseljenci in urbani politični stroji podžgali kulturo glasovanja. Ta kultura je z vsakim novim valom volivcev rasla. Med obnovo, ko so novi afroameriški volivci, novi afroameriški državljani začeli izvajati svoje pravice, so praznovali s paradami, ki so emancipacijo povezovale z novo pravico do glasovanja. Nekaj desetletij kasneje so sufražetke v svoj boj dodale duh teatralnosti, ko so v belih oblekah marširale z zahtevami po volilni pravici. Gibanje za državljanske pravice, ki je zahtevalo izpolnitev obljube po enakopravnem državljanstvu, ki jo je bil prevaral Jim Crow, je volitve postavilo v središče. Od poletja svobode do pohoda v Selmi je ta generacija aktivistov vedela, da so volitve pomembne in da je spektakel ter prikaz moči ključen za pridobitev moči.
But it's been over a half century since Selma and the Voting Rights Act, and in the decades since, this face-to-face culture of voting has just about disappeared. It's been killed by television and then the internet. The couch has replaced the commons. Screens have made citizens into spectators. And while it's nice to share political memes on social media, that's a rather quiet kind of citizenship. It's what the sociologist Sherry Turkle calls "being alone together."
A od Selme in zakona o volilni pravici je minilo preko pol stoletja in v minulih desetletjih je ta fizični izraz kulture volitev skoraj izginil. Ubila sta ga televizija in za njo internet. Kavč je nadomestil parlament. Ekrani so iz državljanov naredili gledalce. In čeprav je fino deliti politične meme na družabnih omrežjih, je to bolj tiha oblika državljanstva. Sociologinja Sherry Turkle to imenuje "biti sami skupaj".
What we need today is an electoral culture that is about being together together, in person, in loud and passionate ways, so that instead of being "eat your vegetables" or "do you duty," voting can feel more like "join the club" or, better yet, "join the party."
Danes potrebujemo volilno kulturo, kjer bomo skupaj skupaj, osebno, glasno in strastno, tako volitve ne bodo kot "pojej zelenjavo" ali "opravi dolžnost", temveč kot "pridruži se klubu" ali "vstopi v stranko".
Imagine if we had, across the country right now, in local places but nationwide, a concerted effort to revive a face-to-face set of ways to engage and electioneer: outdoor shows in which candidates and their causes are mocked and praised in broad satirical style; soapbox speeches by citizens; public debates held inside pubs; streets filled with political art and handmade posters and murals; battle of the band concerts in which competing performers rep their candidates. Now, all of this may sound a little bit 18th century to you, but in fact, it doesn't have to be any more 18th century than, say, Broadway's "Hamilton," which is to say vibrantly contemporary.
Zamislite si, da bi se po vsej državi, lokalno, ampak povsod, trudili oživiti osebne pristope k sodelovanju in agitiranju, dogodke na prostem, kjer bi kandidate smešili ter hvalili skozi satiro, impromptu govore državljanov, javne razprave v gostilnah, politično umetnost na ulicah, ročno narejene posterje in slike, koncertno bitko glasbenikov, ki predstavljajo svoje kandidate. Morda se to sliši kot vrnitev v 18. stoletje, a ni treba, da je tako, nič bolj kot broadwayski Hamilton, ki je tako živo moderen.
And the fact is that all around the world, today, millions of people are voting like this. In India, elections are colorful, communal affairs. In Brazil, election day is a festive, carnival-type atmosphere. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, there is a spectacle, eye-popping, eye-grabbing spectacle to the street theater of elections.
Dejstvo je, da po vsem svetu milijoni ljudi danes volijo na ta način. V Indiji so volitve pisani dogodek v skupnosti. V Braziliji je volilni dan prazničen, karnevalski. Na Tajvanu in v Hong Kongu gre za predstavo, privlačen spektakel uličnega gledališča volitev.
You might ask, well, here in America, who has time for this? And I would tell you that the average American watches five hours of television a day. You might ask, who has the motivation? And I'll tell you, any citizen who wants to be seen and heard not as a prop, not as a talking point, but as a participant, as a creator.
Vprašali boste, kdo v ZDA ima čas za to. Povem vam, da povprečen Američan gleda TV pet ur na dan. Rekli boste: "Kdo je motiviran?" Povem vam, vsak državljan, ki hoče biti viden in slišan, ne kot okrasek, ne kot fraza, temveč kot deležnik, ustvarjalec.
Well, how do we make this happen? Simply by making it happen.
Kako naj to dosežemo? Tako, da to naredimo.
That's why a group of colleagues and I launched a new project called "The Joy of Voting." In four cities across the United States -- Philadelphia, Miami, Akron, Ohio, and Wichita, Kansas -- we've gathered together artists and activists, educators, political folks, neighbors, everyday citizens to come together and create projects that can foster this culture of voting in a local way.
Zato smo s skupino kolegov ustvarili projekt "Veselje do glasovanja". V štirih mestih v ZDA, Filadelfija, Miami, Akron (Ohio) in Wichita (Kansas), smo zbrali umetnike in aktiviste, učitelje, politike, sosede, navadne ljudi, da se združijo v projekte, ki bodo spodbujali lokalno kulturo glasovanja.
In Miami, that means all-night parties with hot DJs where the only way to get in is to show that you're registered to vote. In Akron, it means political plays being performed in the bed of a flatbed truck that moves from neighborhood to neighborhood. In Philadelphia, it's a voting-themed scavenger hunt all throughout colonial old town. And in Wichita, it's making mixtapes and live graffiti art in the North End to get out the vote. There are 20 of these projects, and they are remarkable in their beauty and their diversity, and they are changing people. Let me tell you about a couple of them.
V Miamiju so to celonočne zabave z znanimi didžeji, kamor lahko pridete samo, če pokažete, da ste registriran volivec. V Akronu uprizarjajo politične igre na tovornjaku, ki vozi skozi soseske. V Filadelfiji gre za igro iskanja z volitvami povezanih skrivnosti v starem delu mesta. V Wichiti ustvarjajo kompilacije in grafite in v North Endu pozivajo na volitve. Dvajset takih projektov je in vsi so posebno lepi in raznoliki in spreminjajo ljudi. Naj vam jih nekaj opišem.
In Miami, we've commissioned and artist, a young artist named Atomico, to create some vivid and vibrant images for a new series of "I voted" stickers. But the thing is, Atomico had never voted. He wasn't even registered. So as he got to work on creating this artwork for these stickers, he also began to get over his sense of intimidation about politics. He got himself registered, and then he got educated about the upcoming primary election, and on election day he was out there not just passing out stickers, but chatting up voters and encouraging people to vote, and talking about the election with passersby.
V Miamiju smo najeli mladega umetnika Atomica, ki ustvarja živahne slike za nalepke "glasoval sem". A Atomico ni nikoli glasoval. Še registriral se ni. Ko je delal te nalepke, je tudi premagal strah pred politiko. Registriral se je, se informiral o prihajajočih volitvah in na volilni dan ni samo delil nalepk, ampak volivce nagovarjal, naj volijo, ter z mimoidočimi govoril o volitvah.
In Akron, a theater company called the Wandering Aesthetics has been putting on these pickup truck plays. And to do so, they put out an open call to the public asking for speeches, monologues, dialogues, poems, snippets of anything that could be read aloud and woven into a performance. They got dozens of submissions. One of them was a poem written by nine students in an ESL class, all of them Hispanic migrant workers from nearby Hartville, Ohio. I want to read to you from this poem. It's called "The Joy of Voting."
V Akronu je gledališka skupina Wandering Aesthetics pripravila igre na tovornjaku. V ta namen so javnost pozvali, naj prispeva govore, monologe, dialoge, pesmi, dele česarkoli, kar bi se dalo na glas prebrati in sestaviti v predstavo. Dobili so na ducate prispevkov. Eno od pesmi je napisalo devet učencev angleščine, ki so bili latinskoameriški migranti delavci iz bližnjega Hartvilla v Ohiu. Rad bi vam prebral to pesem. Naslov je "Veselje do glasovanja".
"I would like to vote for the first time because things are changing for Hispanics. I used to be afraid of ghosts. Now I am afraid of people. There's more violence and racism. Voting can change this. The border wall is nothing. It's just a wall. The wall of shame is something. It's very important to vote so we can break down this wall of shame. I have passion in my heart. Voting gives me a voice and power. I can stand up and do something."
"Rad bi prvič volil, ker se stvari za Latinoameričane spreminjajo. Bal sem se duhov. Zdaj se bojim ljudi. Več nasilja in rasizma je. Volitve to lahko spremenijo. Zid na meji ni nič. Le zid je. Zid sramote je nekaj. Pomembno je glasovati, da podremo zid sramote. V mojem srcu je strast. Glasovanje mi da glas in moč. Lahko nekaj dosežem."
"The Joy of Voting" project isn't just about joy. It's about this passion. It's about feeling and belief, and it isn't just our organization's work. All across this country right now, immigrants, young people, veterans, people of all different backgrounds are coming together to create this kind of passionate, joyful activity around elections, in red and blue states, in urban and rural communities, people of every political background. What they have in common is simply this: their work is rooted in place.
Pri projektu "Veselje do glasovanja" ne gre samo za veselje. Gre za neko strast. Gre za občutek, za vero in to ni samo delo naše organizacije. Po vsej državi ta trenutek priseljenci, mladi, veterani, ljudje z različnimi ozadji prihajajo skupaj in ustvarjajo take strastne, vesele aktivnosti, povezane z volitvami, v rdečih in modrih zveznih državah, v mestih in na podeželju, ljudje vseh političnih ozadij. Skupno jim je enostavno tole: aktivni so tam, kjer živijo.
Because remember, all citizenship is local. When politics becomes just a presidential election, we yell and we scream at our screens, and then we collapse, exhausted. But when politics is about us and our neighbors and other people in our community coming together to create experiences of collective voice and imagination, then we begin to remember that this stuff matters. We begin to remember that this is the stuff of self-government.
Ne pozabite, državljanstvo je vedno lokalno. Ko politiki ostanejo samo predsedniške volitve, samo kričimo v ekrane in se izmučeni zgrudimo. Ko gre v politiki za nas, ko sosedje in drugi člani skupnosti pridejo skupaj in ustvarijo skupen glas, skupno domišljijo, se spomnimo, da so te stvari pomembne. Spomnimo se, da gre za samovlado.
Which brings me back to where I began. Why bother? There's one way to answer this question. Voting matters because it is a self-fulfilling act of belief. It feeds the spirit of mutual interest that makes any society thrive. When we vote, even if it is in anger, we are part of a collective, creative leap of faith. Voting helps us generate the very power that we wish we had.
Kar me vrne na začetek. Zakaj nam je mar? Samo en odgovor je. Glasovanje je pomembno, ker gre za delovanje vere. Gre za odziv skupnega interesa, zaradi katerega družbe cvetijo. Ko volimo, četudi iz jeze, smo del skupnega kreativnega skoka v neznano. Glasovanje nam daje moč, ki si jo želimo imeti.
It's no accident that democracy and theater emerged around the same time in ancient Athens. Both of them yank the individual out of the enclosure of her private self. Both of them create great public experiences of shared ritual. Both of them bring the imagination to life in ways that remind us that all of our bonds in the end are imagined, and can be reimagined.
Ni naključje, da sta se demokracija in gledališče pojavila v antičnih Atenah približno sočasno. Oba posameznika izbezata iz zasebne sfere. Oba prineseta pomembno javno izkušnjo skupnega rituala. Oba spodbudita domišljijo, ki nas opomni, da so vse vezi, vsi stiki izmišljeni in jih lahko na novo premislimo.
This moment right now, when we think about the meaning of imagination, is so fundamentally important, and our ability to take that spirit and to take that sense that there is something greater out there, is not just a matter of technical expertise. It's not just a matter of making the time or having the know-how. It is a matter of spirit.
Ta trenutek, ko razmišljamo o pomenu domišljije, je tako temeljnega pomena, naša zmožnost ujeti tega duha in ta pomen, da je tam zunaj nekaj večjega, pa ni samo stvar tehničnega znanja. Ne gre samo za čas in veščine. Gre za duha.
But let me give you an answer to this question, "Why bother?" that is maybe a little less spiritual and a bit more pointed. Why bother voting? Because there is no such thing as not voting. Not voting is voting, for everything that you may detest and oppose. Not voting can be dressed up as an act of principled, passive resistance, but in fact not voting is actively handing power over to those whose interests are counter to your own, and those who would be very glad to take advantage of your absence. Not voting is for suckers.
Naj vam odgovorim, zakaj naj nam bo mar. Odgovor bo manj poduhovljen in bolj direkten. Zakaj glasovati? Ker "ne-glasovanje" ne obstaja. Ne-glasovanje je glasovanje za vse, kar sovražite. Ne-glasovanje ne more biti dejanje načelnega pasivnega odpora, temveč gre za aktivno predajo moči tistim, katerih interesi so vašim nasprotni, tistim, ki bodo z veseljem izkoristili vašo odsotnost. Ne-glasovanje je za reve.
Imagine where this country would be if all the folks who in 2010 created the Tea Party had decided that, you know, politics is too messy, voting is too complicated. There is no possibility of our votes adding up to anything. They didn't preemptively silence themselves. They showed up, and in the course of showing up, they changed American politics. Imagine if all of the followers of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders had decided not to upend the political status quo and blow apart the frame of the previously possible in American politics. They did that by voting.
Zamislite si, kje bi bila ta država, če bi vsi, ki so leta 2010 ustvarili čajansko gibanje, mislili, da je politika preveč kaotična, volitve prezapletene. Ni možnosti, da bi naši glasovi kaj veljali. Niso se samoutišali. Prišli so in s prisotnostjo spremenili ameriško politiko. Kaj ko bi se pristaši Donalda Trumpa in Bernieja Sandersa odločili, da ne bodo razburkali političnega statusa quo ter razdrli okvirja nekoč mogočega v ameriški politiki. To so storili z glasovanjem.
We live in a time right now, divided, often very dark, where across the left and the right, there's a lot of talk of revolution and the need for revolution to disrupt everyday democracy. Well, here's the thing: everyday democracy already gives us a playbook for revolution. In the 2012 presidential election, young voters, Latino voters, Asian-American voters, low-income voters, all showed up at less than 50 percent. In the 2014 midterm elections, turnout was 36 percent, which was a 70-year low. And in your average local election, turnout hovers somewhere around 20 percent.
Živimo v času, ki je razdeljen, pogosto zelo temačen, kjer se na levi in desni veliko govori o revoluciji in da mora revolucija razburkati vsakdanjo demokracijo. Tako je to: vsakdanja demokracija že omogoča revolucijo. Na predsedniških volitvah 2012 je bilo mladih, Latinoameričanov, azijskih Američanov, revnih, na volišču manj kot polovica. Leta 2014 je bila na vmesnih volitvah volilna udeležba 36-odstotna, kar je najmanj v zadnjih 70 letih. Na povprečnih lokalnih volitvah je udeležba okoli 20-odstotna.
I invite you to imagine 100 percent. Picture 100 percent. Mobilize 100 percent, and overnight, we get revolution. Overnight, the policy priorities of this country change dramatically, and every level of government becomes radically more responsive to all the people. What would it take to mobilize 100 percent? Well, we do have to push back against efforts afoot all across the country right now to make voting harder. But at the same time, we have to actively create a positive culture of voting that people want to belong to, be part of, and experience together. We have to make purpose. We have to make joy.
Zamislite si 100-odstotno udeležbo. Zamislite si 100 odstotkov. Mobilizirajte 100 odstotkov pa bomo čez noč imeli revolucijo. Čez noč se bodo politične prioritete te države dramatično spremenile in vsak nivo vladanja bo radikalno bolj odziven za vse ljudi. Kako bi mobilizirali 100 odstotkov? Upreti se moramo poskusom po vsej državi, da bi otežili glasovanje. Hkrati pa moramo aktivno ustvarjati pozitivno kulturo glasovanja, ki ji bodo ljudje želeli pripadati, biti del nje, jo izkusiti skupaj. Najti moramo namen. Ustvariti moramo veselje.
So yes, let's have that revolution, a revolution of spirit, of ideas, of policy and participation, a revolution against cynicism, a revolution against the self-fulfilling sense of powerlessness. Let's vote this revolution into existence, and while we're at it, let's have some fun.
Ja, imejmo revolucijo, revolucijo duha, idej, politike in sodelovanja, revolucijo proti cinizmu, proti samouresničujočemu se občutku nemoči. Z glasovanjem ustvarimo revolucijo in ko smo že pri tem, tudi uživajmo.
Thank you very much.
Hvala lepa.
(Applause)
(aplavz)