Politics & Power Quote by Marian Wright Edelman

Politics runs on leverage, and Edelman is blunt about the currency: participation. By framing voting as a "line of credit", she flips the usual moral lecture about civic duty into a hard-nosed account of power. Credit isn’t virtue; it’s an enforceable relationship. You extend it, and the borrower has to care what you think because you can tighten terms next time. Don’t vote, and you’re not a customer, you’re dead revenue.

The subtext is less about shaming the apathetic than exposing the incentive structure elected officials actually respond to. Politicians talk in the language of representation, but they govern in the math of turnout. Communities that reliably vote become high-priority accounts: they get attention, services, and tailored messaging because they can reward or punish. Nonvoters, by contrast, are politically unpriced. If you won’t show up at the only recurring performance review in the system, your interests can be ignored with minimal risk.

Edelman’s second clause sharpens the knife: nonvoters "pose no threat". Threat here is democratic, not violent - the threat of replacement, of embarrassment, of losing office. It’s a reminder that public outrage without ballots is largely theater, easily absorbed by a system designed to outlast hashtags and headlines.

Context matters: Edelman’s lifelong work in child advocacy and civil rights lives inside a history where disenfranchisement (legal and practical) wasn’t accidental; it was strategy. The quote doubles as a warning and a mobilization tactic: power yields when it fears consequences, and in electoral politics, consequences start with turnout.