Michelle Obama’s Wisdom—Applied to Questions about voting
As we from AVA-Berlin began assembling information about how to vote from abroad, we were also attuned to the powerful speech given by Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention. In her speech (links to the full transcript below), she talked about core values that she learned from her mother—fairness, hard work, giving to the community and caring for others. She talked about how these values inform our hopes for a more just society, equal opportunity, and human dignity. The former First Lady reminded us not to give in to the negative emotions and anxiety that can dampen those hopes and can lessen the energy we need to take part in our communities and our politics.
Her good advice seemed to provide appropriate answers to questions that are sometimes posed about the reasons for voting, so we have matched a few of those questions with quotes from her speech.
Link to the full text—
Some people ask: What is at stake in this election? What if I don’t identify with either of the major parties?
“Look, I don’t care how you identify politically, whether you are Democrat, Republican, independent or none of the above. This is our time to stand up for what we know in our hearts is right.To stand up not just for our basic freedoms, but for decency and humanity. For basic respect, dignity and empathy. For the values at the very foundation of this democracy.”
— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024
Some people ask: Does my one vote really matter? Will it even be counted?
“This election is going to be close. In some states, just a handful — listen to me — a handful of votes in every precinct could decide the winner. So we need to vote in numbers that erase any doubt. We need to overwhelm any effort to suppress us. Our fate is in our hands. In 77 days, we have the power to turn our country away from the fear, division and smallness of the past.”
— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024
Some people ask: What about the gerrymandering, the lies and dirty tricks? . What about the polls?
“ . . . . the minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, folks, we cannot start wringing our hands . . . So if they lie about her, and they will, we’ve got to do something. If we see a bad poll, and we will, we’ve got to put down that phone, and do something. If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, we’ve got to pick ourselves up, throw water on our face, and what?” [Crowd chants back, “Do Something!]
— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024
Some people say: She’s too far left/she’s too far right/she’s too much in the middle/ She’s not the candidate I most wanted. She’s not clearly on the same side as I am on every issue. I’m afraid most Americans will not vote for her.
“We cannot get a goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right. And we cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala, instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected.”
“It’s up to us to remember what Kamala’s mother told her: Don’t just sit around and complain, do something.”
— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024
Some people say: Nobody has come knocking on my door to ask for my vote. They don’t care about it. Why should I bother?
“We only have two and a half months, y’all, to get this done. Only 11 weeks to make sure every single person we know is registered and has a voting plan. So we cannot afford for anyone, anyone, anyone in America to sit on their hands and wait to be called. Don’t complain if no one from the campaign has specifically reached out to you to ask you for your support. There is simply no time for that kind of foolishness. You know what you need to do. So consider this to be your official ask. Michelle Obama is asking you — no, I’m telling y’all — to do something.”
— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024
