dissent | The Direction of Intention

The Basic Action [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on September 21, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.” ~ J. William Fulbright

Are you as confused as I am that people in a democracy choose not to vote? How is it possible to believe that your vote does not matter? That is the equivalent of saying to yourself, “I have no voice.” Or, it is an embrace of root rot, to uphold the victim-belief that the democracy is already gone and the act of voting is a sham.

To this day I am gobsmacked that in our last election more people decided not to vote than those who voted for either candidate. In one of the closest presidential races in our history, a race that was by all accounts the most important in our lifetime, 90 million Americans stayed home. 90 million people chose voicelessness. 90 million people thought that their voice did not matter.

Surrounded by the wreckage of our system, demolished over the past two years by an authoritarian regime, I challenge anyone to convince me that their vote did not count, that their voice does not count. In this case, silence is not dissent. It was surrender. Going forward, silence is conformity.

And here we are again only this time – this time – is not only the most important vote of our lives, it may be the most important vote in the life of our democracy. We are voting to fight for the life of government of, by and for the people – or to pull the plug and let it die.

Each day I read appeals to get out the vote – essentially an appeal to convince people in a democracy under siege – that they have a voice, that their voice matters. Given the utter corruption, the selling-out of the people to enrich the privileged few, it confuses me.

Standing in the rubble – and the wave of devastation of social safety net still-to-come thanks to the Big Ugly Bill, another forever war, The Epstein Class cover-up…I wonder why anyone would need convincing to speak up.

A vote is either an act of approval or it is an act of dissent. It is the fundamental, the basic action defining our system: the people have the power to choose their path by voting to stay the course or to change it. It is an enormous power and with power comes responsibility. In our government, it is sometimes hard to remember that we have the power – by design. Our democracy can only collapse if we allow it to happen.

The ongoing all-out-assault on our right to vote, waged by the president and his feckless party, is meant to render us voiceless. It is a power grab. They would squeeze us into conformity and if they succeed, the 90 million will have proven themselves as authoritarian-first-adapters, selecting voicelessness en route to a rotten system, modeling itself on Putin’s Russia or Orbán’s Hungary, a system of control that relies on a complacent and silent citizenry.

We have the opportunity, perhaps our last, to dissent. To speak. To uphold our responsibility. To vote.

“Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.” ~ Jacob Brownoski

read Kerri’s blogpost about DISSENT