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A Video For Everyone Who Has No Idea If Their Voice or Their Vote Can Actually Matter

By Vivian Kane | Videos | September 20, 2016 |

By Vivian Kane | Videos | September 20, 2016 |



At one time or another, I’m going to guess that just about every one of us has had the feeling that we are utterly powerless in enacting change or wielding any degree of influence over our government. We’re told every vote matters, but those of us who don’t live in anything close to a swing state so often feel like less than the whisper of blip on the radar of the electoral college. We’re told to call our elected officials, or sign petitions, or use hashtags or stake lawn signs, but for the most part, most of us feel like we just don’t matter.

I don’t have a solution to that disillusion, but perhaps I can offer a tiny, but powerful, burst of inspiration.

This video is not new. It’s from 2013. But if you, like me, missed it the first time around, or just want a reminder, this is Sarah Slamen. She’s speaking to the Texas state Senate. They don’t want to hear her thoughts on their abortion bill, but damn it, she has rights as a human and a citizen and she’s going to make them listen until they literally carry her out of the room.

Again, this video isn’t new, but it might be what we need right now, in this moment.

I think it’s worth mentioning that even though I missed this video three years ago when it happened, I found it today on a friend’s Facebook page. As miserable as social media can be, either because of its frivolity or its unrelenting awfulness, it’s also where we, all people who feel voiceless so much of the time, can see and say these things.