Jeff Tweedy

Because democracy is grinding and slow and messy. But it works.

I always vote for the candidates and initiatives that get us closer to the idea of an America that I can believe in—one that’s radically wild, diverse, and free, much like the music Americans have made. It’s a young democracy, and has only been a true democracy, in the modern sense, for a couple of years longer than I’ve been alive—I was born in 1967, hot on the heels of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

There are many issues that are important to me, and progress can be heartbreakingly slow for even the most committed to democratic governance. Still, that’s the world as it is, not the world as I wish it to be. What’s most important in this election is defending our belief in democracy itself. There are obvious signs that a great many of our fellow citizens are giving up on the principles I’ve taken for granted most of my life—chief among them the idea that, so far, democracy is the best form of governance we humans have devised. I see the erosion of this belief most obviously in the authoritarian tendencies of our political Right. But I also see it in far too many of the people I’m most politically aligned with on the Left, who seem to have lost their tolerance of discourse and compromise. In other words, a lot of people are being seduced by the notion that the world would be perfect if everyone would just agree to agree—as long as it’s “you” agreeing with “ME!” And anything short of complete uniformity of thought is intolerable.

It’s exhausting and counterproductive, to say the least. Democracy doesn’t work like that. It’s grinding and slow and messy. But it works. Progress does get made. We can find common ground. We can change and allow others to change at their own speed. We can delight in our differences. We can be inspired by new ideas. We can choose to be thrilled by the tension of not knowing what the future will bring and still embrace our ability to dream of its beauty.

These are all qualities I associate with the miraculous music Americans have invented and spread to the rest of the world. Much of it was born before a true democracy existed. Born of fear, yet fearless. Willed into being to spit joy in the face of tyrants too dumb to know they’re being mocked. Born of the ideals America represents before America had a heart big enough to fully embrace them. So, I’m voting to give this colossal experiment another day. I’m voting for democracy. I’m voting for the next Louis Armstrong and Hank Williams—the next Little Richard and Sister Rosetta Tharpe… Charles Mingus, Missy Elliott, Taylor Swift… I’m voting for the magic that keeps holding the world together long enough for the light to shine again. I’m voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Jeff Tweedy is one of contemporary music’s most accomplished songwriters, musicians, and performers.