My inbox just dinged with a letter from Michael Moore about people who don't vote

[Mira]

Letter to a Non-Voter ...from Michael Moore

Sunday, November 4th, 2012

To my friend who is not voting on Tuesday:



I get it – and I don't blame you. You're fed up and you could care less whether Tweedledee or Tweedledumber wins on Tuesday – because on Wednesday, your life will be the same, unchanged, regardless who is president. Your mortgage will still be underwater. You will still owe $50,000 on your student loan. Your son will still be in Afghanistan. Your daughter will still be working two jobs to make ends meet. And gas will still be at $4.



Four years ago you gave in and voted – and you voted for Obama. You wanted to believe he would go after the Wall Street crooks who crashed the economy – but instead the banks that were "too big to fail" four years ago are now even bigger and more dangerous. You thought there'd be universal health care – but the new law only went so far (with most of it not taking effect until 2014). You were tired of war and homeland security measures that violated our civil liberties – but we're still in Afghanistan, we're sending in drones to Pakistan and basic constitutional rights to privacy and a fair trial have been ignored. And you thought you'd have a middle-class, good-paying job like your dad had – but you didn't know that Goldman Sachs was Obama's #1 private campaign donor in 2008, and well, he was beholden to corporate America in more ways we cared to think about. 



So, I get it why you've had it with all these politicians and elections. In the end, it doesn't really seem to be our country any more. It's run by those who can buy the most politicians to do their bidding. Our schools are made a low priority and women are still having to fight for just the basic human rights we thought they already had.



So, it's hard for me to ask you for this very personal favor. It's OK if you say "no," but I'm hoping you don't.



I cannot believe it is possible that, after a group of rich plutocrats wrecked the economy, threw people out of work and stole our future, we may actually hand the keys to our country over to...a rich Republican plutocrat who made millions by throwing people out of work! This is insane, and despite all the legitimate criticisms of Obama, he is nothing like the tsunami of hate and corporate thievery that will take place if Mitt Romney is president. As bad as it feels now, it will only get worse. I need your help to stop this.



I can't promise you that your life will get better, easier under Barack Obama. I do think he cares and I know for sure that if the other guy is sitting in the Oval Office, I can guarantee you that not only will your life not get better, it will get much, much worse. Don't take my word for it. Just ask your parents what life was like before a 30-year pillage by the Republicans of the middle class. Your parents bought a house and eventually owned it outright. They weren't in debt. College was free. They bought a new car every 3 or 4 years. They took vacations and were home for dinner by 5 or 6 PM. They had a savings account in the bank. They didn't live in fear of not knowing if they'd even have a job next year. 



That's all gone. I don't know if we can get it back, but I do know that Mr. Romney would love the chance to complete the final elimination of the middle class and the American Dream. 



He must be stopped. Take 20 minutes on Tuesday and go vote. If you don't want to do it for your country, then do it for me! It's the only favor I'll ever ask of you.



Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know that you care, and care deeply, about your future and your kids' future. You have every right to be cynical about all this. And you hold the power to stop the bastards who plan on squeezing every last dime out of you that they can. Take a stand. And make a statement to those who are hoping against hope that you'll stay home on Tuesday. Your presence at the polls is what they fear most.



Go scare the s**t out of them! For me.

Yours,
Michael Moore

[JI7]

1. that was stupid

[sabrina 1]

6. No, it was excellent and far more persuasive than those who

try to bully people into not facing reality. People can take the facts, and then decide what to do with them. What they hate, and what loses votes, is the attempt to force everyone to wear rose-colored glasses and ignore the disappointments, the facts that simply cannot be wished or ordered away. They also resist those who are not happy with someone voting, but who want them to be joyful about it even when as MM points out, there are plenty of reasons not to be. And those are facts.

I bet he gets more people to vote for Obama than all the raging, angry uber partisans who do nothing but attack people ever will.

He's got over one million followers on Twitter alone, retweets of his letter means it will get to millions.

Instead of screaming 'traitor' at people, he uses the most successful method of getting people to do what you would like them to do. First he is honest with them, he doesn't try to deny their legitimate reasons for not feeling too enthusiastic, then he asks, not orders or threatens or calls them 'disloyal', he respects them as he asks for their votes.

There are people on DU who should take a lesson from him, they might meet with less resistance if they changed their attitude.

[Bonobo]

2. I am sure there are millions of people that share that sentiment. Great work, Michael. nt

[FarewellAddress]

3. Why won't *he* run for anything?

It's a little bit criminal the highest elected office this man has ever held was school superintendent at age 18, and out of spite. We need this kind of talk on the senate floor, not our inboxes. He does get credit for omitting the giant red 'Donate' button that seems to be a standard e-mail composition requirement these days.

[Mira]

4. Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me - please

Mr./ or Ms
FarewellAddress of 4 posts.
You are messing with slamming a person who made more movies that are stellar than you have posts, one of them a winner of the Cannes Award and one of them a winner of an Oscar.

Are you nuts about that Donate button thing?
If you want to send him money all you need to do is go to his website and try to find that button.

Maybe your name is a pre-cursor of where you may end up. Farewell - and no address.

[FarewellAddress]

5. Whoa Mira cease fire!

I don't know who got under you skin but you vastly misinterpreted my comment.
I'm a big fan of Michael Moore. My biggest complaint is that I don't see more of him, and that he remains only a private citizen, not Senator Moore from the Great State of Michigan.
As for the donate button, that was a "slam" on As-of-now President Obama, who has the nerve to ask me for a handout 4-5 times a day via e-mail even, as Mr. Moore said, he is in the pocket of the banking industry, the folks who actually have all the money.
Also, I'm well aware of my lack of posts, as I just created this account tonight to spread a message of activism in a desperate attempt to engender to this nation an electorate it deserves. I have no interest in credibility flame wars, and an explanation of my screen name is forthcoming.

[sabrina 1]

7. Lol, I agree with that. I would love to see hundreds of him in Congress.

But I think he accomplishes more doing what he does. He immensely popular, and has a lot of influence over young people especially. Eg, one of my friends who is a Republican, she is a wonderful person, but it's a tradition with her family and nothing is going to change her. However she called me one day all upset because her teenage son told her how great Michael Moore is and told her she should go see his movie.

We had never talked about politics, so she was calling as a friend assuming I too thought MM was an evil liberal and leading her son astray. So she asked me what I knew about him. I told her she should be proud of her son, he apparently was very informed for his age and that MM was a brilliant documentary producer and she should do what her son suggested, go see some of his movies.

Lol, I think her teenager has broken the family tradition and will be a Dem thanks to MM.

[Mira]

8. Consider it done! I'm not one to be in combat.

But I do and will STAND UP for Michael Moore at the drop of a criticism, or even before.
Sorry I did not understand we are on the same page as far as appreciating him is concerned.

By all means do what you need to do to settle into DU - welcome to our community. For a while, maybe you best listen and look.
Again: I'm sorry I did not read your comments in the spirit you intended to make them.

[FarewellAddress]

9. No offense taken, we're down to the last few hours

I can imagine this place becomes the business end of a bridge and just starts sucking in trolls like a black hole, and no ones a bigger target (not a pun) than Michael Moore. You're right to be so quick to defend him, the guy's films had a huge impact on me as a kid, I'd be far more ignorant if I hadn't seen "Bowling" and understood why the whole school was now looking at and treating my friends and I differently. I come from the kind of family Sabrina described, if it wasn't for folks like Moore, Al Franken, Noam Chomsky, and Errol Morris, I'd certainly be closer to the dark.

(Sabrina: keep an eye on that kid! He's gonna get a lot of push back from folks who love him. It's hard to parse that, especially as a teenager)

I'll settle in, and I'm more than happy to take the backseat for more experienced members. I know these rapid fire postings are unbecoming and ill-advised, but I'm a man of action (hope that clears up the Mr./Mrs conundrum ) who's sorta working on a deadline. I want to get to 10, but not without at least saying 10 things that I really mean.

Again: No apology necessary, I still have yet to perfect the translation of my sardonicism to an electronic medium. I blame myself.

[Selatius]

10. There's no money to be made running on a left wing political platform.

If you wanted an easy time winning an election for office, you court the wealthiest donors and play it down the middle. You never come from left field, unless you want all those wealthy interests dropping big bucks to see you defeated.

If you sold out to corporate interests, you're more likely to land a cushy job in the private sector when you leave office.

The sad thing is it's easier to sell out than to stand up and suffer for the right causes.