Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Deserving a Vote

They deserve a vote. With that simple exhortation, President Obama cleverly married two causes that were certainly the emotional high points of his recent State of the Union address. In introducing his idea for a nonpartisan commission to “improve the voting experience in America,” he cited the hours-long wait some citizens endured last November just to cast a ballot. “We can fix this and we will,” he promised.

And when he pivoted to his proposals to reduce gun violence, he turned the voting imperative back to the House chamber, arguing that legislation to strengthen background checks and to ban assault weapons and massive ammunition magazines should be formally considered. “Gabby Giffords deserves a vote,” he said, as the applause rose. “The families of Newtown deserve a vote.” It didn’t take much more to bring most members of Congress to their feet.

Besides offering brilliant political theater, though, Obama was delivering an important message. Passage of gun safety laws and citizen engagement are linked; in fact, the first doesn’t have a prayer of happening without the second. Most Americans strongly favor his proposals, and most political analysts give them little chance of passing because of the supposed strength of the pro-gun lobby and the vagaries of congressional districting.

The only way ordinary citizens can overcome these obstacles is to summon the dedication of Desiline Victor, the 102-year-old Florida woman who waited in line for hours to vote in November’s general election. She deserved a vote. The majority who favor gun safety laws need to act like they deserve it, too.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.