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Republicans are holding a unique midterm combination rally, get-out-the-vote convention in Dallas this week. The GOP hopes to raise enthusiasm (and money) for Republican candidates in the November election. One indication they are in trouble are polls that show Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, twice impeached by members of his own party and accused of being a serial adulterer and tax cheat, and Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico, serial flipper and recreator of God in his image, are close to being tied.

There’s another factor that may keep the Texas Senate race and other Republican races close. People are fed up with politics and politicians. One hears the same tired promises and criticisms over the years. Only the candidates change, not so much the script.

Today’s candidates, like yesterday’s, are going to improve education, reduce the cost of everything (though they never say how), reduce crime (that’s been tried before. Remember “Midnight basketball created by Bill Clinton aimed at getting kids off the streets?) They promise everything except reducing the $40 trillion debt. As usual, the promises don’t come true after the election. If they did, wouldn’t the problems of which they speak be solved by now? Both parties have had majorities in Congress and their party member as president. Shouldn’t they have more than moderate success with important issues, like Social Security and Medicare reform?

This is what drives voter cynicism. And cynicism leads to disappointment. And disappointment leads to disengagement. And disengagement gets people elected that the larger pool of potential voters come to dislike. Repeat cycle.

America has been suffering from voter turn off instead of voter turnout for some time. According to the Pew Research Center, the US falls far behind most other developed countries when it comes to voter turnout. Only 55.7 percent of Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election, and even less of the population, 36.4 percent, voted in 2014. One might think that seeing so many other nations without the right to vote or voting in rigged elections whose outcome is predetermined, people would take this voting privilege more seriously and see it as a patriotic act. Alas, even patriotism has been turned political and instead of uniting us, it has become a weapon used to blast an opponent who “waves the flag.” As the patriotic song says, “Do you know of a better flag to wave?” The title is “This is a Great Country.”

According to Democracy Docket, 24 states have made it easier to vote this year, even as President Trump (rightly in my view) wants to restrict mail-in ballots to reduce what he sees as fraud. The Democrat line that Republicans want to restrict voting by poor and minority citizens is increasingly a weak argument.

Tuesday elections keep many people from voting. Either change the day or make it a holiday.

Here’s the big one from Pew: Citizens don’t vote if they think their vote doesn’t matter. In elections that are increasingly close, they may matter more than ever. They certainly don’t matter if they are not cast.

Every time I cast my ballot I think of the people who have sacrificed even their lives to make it possible. We used to teach such things in many of our schools, salute the flag, and sing patriotic songs. We’re not doing that as much now or teaching kids why they should love America and not be seduced by socialism. The resulting absence of these and other values have led to low voter turnout and its consequences.

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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).

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