Get Out The Vote

By Tim Shriver| CEO and Founder, Dignity.Us

Polls agree: Americans are exhausted by the contempt and dehumanization that is all too common in our politics, in our media, and in our communities too. We’re stressed, anxious, and afraid because we’re fed a steady diet of stress, anxiety, and fear. And it’s making us sick—emotionally, physically, and spiritually too.

And polls agree on this too: most Americans don’t know what to do about it. 94% of Americans believe that people should be treated with dignity—that’s a whopping number. But at the same time, just 31% of us feel that we’re meeting that standard. That leaves over 60% of us who feel like we’re living out of alignment with our values. And we don’t know what to do about it.

But now, we all have a chance to change the direction of our country by doing something simple but powerful: become a dignity voter. You can be a republican, a democrat, an independent, or completely unaffiliated, but you can also be a dignity voter.

Here’s how.

First, focus on yourself and what you believe. If you’re like the vast majority of us, you believe that people should be treated with dignity. So start by committing to treating others with dignity! Reduce contempt in the way you engage in politics. Ask questions. Listen deeply. Show some humility. Don’t compromise your principles, but add one: treat political leaders and your own friends with dignity when you talk about politics. Announce: “I am a dignity voter.” Just that one step makes you an agent of change.

Second, ask political candidates a simple question: “Will you treat people with dignity if you’re elected?” Send that one question to your candidates’ offices. Ask the people seeking your vote to commit to treating people with whom they disagree with dignity. Remind them that they are more likely to achieve the goals to which you aspire if they reduce contempt on the other side. Political leaders want your vote: ask them how they stand on dignity in order to earn it.

Third, invite others to join you. Post on social. Bring dignity voter cards to school, work, or community centers. This is a movement that belongs to each of us. The only way it works is if we each lead in our own way. Being a change agent can be exhilarating because being a change agent reminds us that we each have power and we can use it.

This is not about advancing a partisan agenda; it’s about advancing a dignity agenda. We don’t have to wait for permission to invite others to become dignity voters, but we do have to be brave enough to challenge the contempt status quo. Many of our friends have become accustomed to hearing contempt from us and from each other. They may be surprised to know you’re a dignity voter. They may wonder what that means.

Tell them. Being a dignity voter means believing in dignity. It means asking our political leaders to lead with dignity. It means inviting others to be dignity voters too. Believe. Ask. Invite.

This week, the National Governors Association “Center for Dignity in Politics” convened Governors and senior staffers to deepen their commitment to reducing contempt in their campaigning and leadership. I was proud to be among them together with my wife, Linda, our great supporter, Chi Kim, and my cousins Ted and Joe. We even got to go to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game (sadly, they lost this one).

Here’s the headline: many of your governors want to lead with more dignity. But they often worry that we, the voters, won’t respond if they do. They’ve told me that they’re bombarded with dehumanizing attacks all the time and that most of their advisors tell them to respond with dehumanizing attacks in return.

When I introduced the dignity voter campaign to them, they applauded. “Governors are accountable for performance,” said Gov Wes Moore, “and treating people with dignity is an issue where we all need to perform.”

It’s time to get out the vote—the dignity vote. Believe. Ask. Invite. We are not powerless to change the culture of contempt. We are powerful. More powerful than most of us realize.

Now is the time, dignity voters! The future of our country, our communities, and our families are on the line.

Vote Dignity!

-Tim Shriver