These Days Before the Vote: “We cannot, we must not, refuse to protect the right of every American to vote in every election that he may desire to participate in.”

Whitewater, Wis. — Monday evening here in rainy Wisconsin continues These Days Before the Vote, a series addressing, each day before the November election, a principle or position on which our liberal democratic tradition rests.

There are, I wouldn't wonder, few libertarians who quote Lyndon Johnson. Very few. There is, however, at least one, at least on the important question of voting rights for all citizens (regardless of race). Here's Lyndon Johnson, from March 15, 1965, in his American Promise address to Congress:

We cannot, we must not, refuse to protect the right of every American to vote in every election that he may desire to participate in.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise (Mar. 15, 1965).

From March 15, 1965, to Election Day tomorrow, November 3, 2026, 61 years, 7 months, 19 days will have passed.

Not one of those years, months, or days — nor all of them together — has diminished the importance of vigilantly defending Americans' voting rights.