I am new here, so go easy on me. Or don't. :) First diary.
I have been mulling this over for quite a while now. There have been so many discussions about the disenfranchisement of voters over the years (including this one). From voter irregularities, over counted ballots, under counted ballots, caucuses, the removal of MI and FL delegates because of the rules, and on and on.
My contention is that the biggest culprit of voter disenfranchisement is voter disillusionment.
The right wing has had this strategy down for years, and have won many elections because of it. Divide, and conquer. Whether through war, economic policies intended to keep everyone in their economic caste, or general media feeds, they have convinced the average voter that it's too hard, it's too much, and it won't mean anything anyway, so don't bother. It's more subtle than blocking someone from registering to vote or removing their names from the voter registry, but all the more insidious for its subtlety. The Clinton campaign, much to my dismay and shock, has continued in lock step. Chastizing grown adults for being part of a "cult", too ignorant to know they are being hoodwinked into thinking they matter. Silly adults. Don't they know better?
I have been one of those voters. I had never bothered to show up for a caucus until this year. I'm not entirely sure I knew what a caucus was. Sure, I voted, because I'm college educated and raised to be aware of my civic duty. But to go above and beyond that? Who has time, in between fighting spouses, raising children, paying the bills with the money we don't have, and trying to remember to feed the cat? Besides, so the narrative has gone, it "didn't matter anyway." I live in a red state, my vote never counted. I don't have time or money to devote to something that is futile. In short, my participation in the civic process was at most 2 hours every 2-4 years. I am quite sure that that has been the line of thinking of more than the majority of people in my economic situation and age group, if they've thought about it at all.
There is a reason that this election year has brought so many new people to the process. Yes, it is the failed and dismal policies of the last 8 years. Yes, it is because I, and so many like me, are making less money now than we were 10 years ago. Yes, it is because we can't afford gas, rent, food, student loans, health insurance, child care, AND heat. Yes, it is because my friends, and my friends' friends, continue to bleed and die and come back from that desert shattered people. It is all of these things. But, rest assured, if it was JUST these things, the increase in Democratic voter participation would be a blip, not a spike. Just because we've been screaming about these things doesn't mean we were convinced our screaming has mattered a hill of beans. 2000? Stolen election. I protested the war in 2003. My friends still died. 2004? More of the same. 2006? High hopes, not many results.
It is different out here now, and the Obama movement is the reason it is different. It's not about Obama: I certainly don't worship him, or anyone for that matter. He has great ideas, and is the best candidate in the field. But it's about all of us - not just people who can afford to attend cocktail parties with little weenies on napkins (though I'm pretty sure they are included, too). He's spoken to something inside the disillusioned and said, "Come on. Hope with me, just this one more time. We can DO this." And we've looked at each other and said, "It's all bullshit. We know it's bullshit. But...Yeah? You think? Maybe, just maybe? Let's try, just one more time."
I may be crammed with my small child in a tiny apartment. I may be wondering what the next spike in health insurance premiums will mean I have to sacrifice this time. But I have devoted time. I have devoted money, whatever I can. Because I live in a red state and I'm not rich and I'm not powerful and I'm not well connected, but I have a voice. Look, I'm talking on Daily Kos! Who would have ever thought? Obama has spoken to inclusion, not disillusion. And, in that way, he is empowering more voters than Clinton, or anyone else, could ever hope to contend he is disenfranchising. I hope the Democratic leadership is smart enough to see this, I believe they are. Cynicism might win out in the end, but I will always remember that it takes far more courage to hope than not. What a good lesson for my daughter. Yes, yes we really can.