Where Change Takes Place
ByWe’re friends with a few of the country’s name-brand bloggers. There’s no magic to it. We just keep seeing them at conventions. We know lots of local and state-level politicians too. There’s really no magic to it, either. It isn’t just about donations or family connections. It’s about showing up.
The first time you show up to volunteer nobody knows you. Maybe they catch your name. The second time you show up maybe they remember seeing you before. (What was your name again?) The third or fourth time, now you’re somebody they think they might need to take seriously.
I got into this business working on Patsy Keever’s 2004 congressional race. I didn’t know Patsy from Adam, but I was angry and frustrated and that was where the fight was. I walked in off the street to stuff envelopes or something — I didn’t know anything about electioneering. (I was out of work.) A couple of weeks later I had my own computer and a desk. I entered data, cut call lists. By the time it was over, I had done about everything except fundraising, including location scouting for commercials and playing craft services for the film crew.
It amazed me to watch activists walk in off the street, offer to write “white papers” and expect to be dubbed the campaign’s chief advisor on [your pet issue here]. Can you make some phone calls? No?
After we lost, I told people for the next two years it was the most fun I ever had losing. I stopped feeling like a victim.
In 2006, I got offered the job of directing the Get-Out-The-Vote effort for NC-11. How? I showed up to volunteer and people knew me. Did I really want that kind of responsibility? No. But I knew if I didn’t do it, who would? Long days, long nights. Early morning volunteers might catch me emptying trash or cleaning toilets. They heard, “I’m only in this for the glamour.” Heath Shuler was at the top of the ticket that year.
After the polls closed on Election Day 2006, my wife showed up at the Renaissance looking like a drowned rat. It had rained all day and she’d spent it outside a polling place in West Asheville. She stood there greeting voters all day because there was no one else to do it. Each election, she sets up shop outside the Board of Elections to greet voters during early voting. She is awesome. Big decorated table and display. She’s there almost all day, every day — rain, cold, snow. Carol Peterson, I heard, got all choked up in 2008 talking about her standing out there in the rain all day to help elect Democrats. Want the establishment to take you seriously? That works. And it carries more weight than a protest vote. A whole helluva lot more.
We have this regular routine when my wife complains about our national leadership: Why don’t they do this? Why don’t they do that? They should be doing more X and less Y…
That’s the point at which I ask, “Who is ‘they’? What’s ‘their’ number? Let’s give ‘them’ a call and complain.”
You’ll hear people complain about “the government” as if “they” are an entity somehow separate from us. But you are the government. Sorry. Don’t like it? What are you doing about it?
It’s the same with complaining about “the Democrats” or the “Democratic establishment.” If you are a Democrat, or you vote with them, and you don’t like how the people in charge are performing at a local or national level, then stop playing the victim and DO SOMETHING.
It doesn’t have to be dramatic or time consuming. Darcy Burner asks progressives to give politicians “Scooby snacks” when they do something they *do* like. Go online and send them $10.
Anthony Weiner goes on “Morning Joe” and jumps down the throat of some political flack — $10.
Alan Grayson goes onto the floor of the House and says exactly what you’d hoped someone, anyone, would say, only better — $10.
You want better behavior from Democrats? Want more better Democrats? More Scooby snacks and fewer sticks. It works with Darcy’s dog.
Don’t like how things are being run, locally or in D.C.? Think you can do a better job? Please, show up and DO A BETTER JOB. That’s the only way things will improve. Just don’t show up and expect people immediately to listen and take you seriously if they’ve never seen you before, even if you are the highly informed, local neighborhood authority on [your pet issue here] that you think you are. That’s not how it works. That kind of trust is something you have to earn by showing up to work again and again and again.
But you volunteered for Obama? Congratulations. You and millions of others. Then what?
There’s this now familiar pit of the stomach feeling when I’m about to do something outside my comfort zone that’s going to put me out there doing something I’m not sure I know how to do but needs to be done. Why do it? Because if I don’t do it nobody else will, that’s why.
That’s where change takes place. Not in a comment thread. Or grousing over coffee. Or on talk radio. Or yelling at your TV.
It’s not quick. It’s not easy. But it’s how you get to be the person in charge that everybody else who isn’t doing the job complains isn’t doing it to their satisfaction. The upside is, you get a sense that maybe you really can change things, and you stop feeling like a victim.
Oddly enough, that feels pretty good.
11 Comments
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:45 am
Thanks Tom for mild admonishment. Isn’t there a roll too for the press, a small part of which blog commentary is– okay, a very small part, minuscule perhaps.
But reporting and editorials and Internet based news and commentary are as much a part of democracy as electioneering and legislation.
I think the current Obama administration is as good an example as we’re likely to get of the dangers of insularity. The interests and views of Wall Street and presented and represented by Summers and Geithner, but who serves the interests, concerns, fears of my neighbor who’s lost his house, his job, can’t afford to take his children to the doctor when they’re sick?
And then he’s told he’s unemployed because she’s lazy, he shouldn’t have taken on the mortgage in the first place if he couldn’t afford it, and she’s a Socialist to expect affordable health care for his children.
Oh, and the Social Security he’s been paying into all these years for a little financial security is old age or disability is threatened because too many are ‘sucking on the tit & should get honest work.’ –women especially.
As I’ve said, I’ve contributed to Elaine Marshall’s campaign, and will volunteer to make at least 10 phone calls as described here.
http://www.elainemarshall.com/action/call
But I don’t think I’m going to stop writing.
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:05 am
Are we getting a tongue lashing from someone who got invovled in politics in 2004? Really?
Rather than make this a pissing contest about volunteer bona fides or some ill-defined grunt work, I’ll agree that getting involved matters.
TS also correctly points out that positive reinforcement promotes more positive actions.
So too does negative reinforcement demonstrate where a line is drawn and future politicians should not dare cross it.
I’m not making an argument against voting for some local or state candidates — esp. judges, but I’m certainly going to make the case that Shuler is worth making an example of.
I encourage all to vote and volunteer. And vote against Shuler. The rest of the ballot (Marshall included) needs your help.
I’ll also make an argument to defund establishment institutions like the DSCC that fail to embrace candidates like Elaine Marshall — months after she won the primary a second time.
Like Diog above, I’ll continue to volunteer, fundraise (got another one tonight), register, pull people to the polls, educate about judicial races, and everything I’ve always done long before 2004, but I’m not about to STFU and urge others to keep taking Shuler’s BS.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:00 pm
George Bush, being unemployed, the advent of laptops and blogs opened new avenues of activism for the professional road warrior.
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September 2nd, 2010 at 12:52 pm
We write, we contribute $$$ to campaigns (my last was that effing John Edwards). We get disgusted at the party we have the most leanings toward. Then we start again from square one again and come to realize that both parties are playing us. Exploiting our fears and insecurities. We come to realize that the only real effect we can have is on local, and it becomes our responsibility to hold local politicians feet to the fire. Because power is a dangerous thing, and many succumb to the temptations. The work of leadership is a sacred trust…but how many of our elected officials really see this?
Frankly I see the role of rigorous attention to what goes on locally just as important as any of the points brought up by T.S.
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:35 pm
@ Dixiegirlz…I’m pretty much with you on your thoughts. (My money went to Hillary Clinton – with gritted teeth as I wasn’t crazy about her either.)
I am sick about Shuler. I’m sick of him and sickened by him and I would rather take a severe beating than vote for him. However, I expect I will vote for him as the lesser of two evils (lesser of two weevils?), which is the same reason I voted for Obama.
Perhaps we should vote for Shuler and then devote the next two years to finding a more competent person for the seat in the next House election?
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Well said, Tom.
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September 3rd, 2010 at 4:00 am
I wholeheartedly support efforts to find someone to run against Congressman Shuler. That’s what democracy is about.
But, I’m going to bring up this point again:
In the most historic presidential election we’ve seen, in 2008, John McCain won the 11th Congressional District. That’s our district. Our district includes the city of Asheville in Buncombe Co. It also includes 13.5 other counties. President Obama lost our district by 5%.
That means, there are more right leaning votes than there are left leaning votes. By the tens of thousands.
So based on that information, we know a few things:
- You probably can’t get Dennis Kucinich elected here in our district.
- You probably can’t get Alan Grayson elected here in our district.
- You probably can’t get Anthony Weiner elected here in our district.
- You probably can’t get Nancy Pelosi elected here in our district.
- You probably can’t get Barack Obama elected here in our district.
But, here’s the good news:
- We do have a member of Congress that votes 85% with the Democratic Party.
- We do have a member of Congress that is endorsed by the Sierra Club.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted to bring $300 million for NC teachers’, firefighters’, police jobs and an additional $300 million for Medicaid in NC. That bill was paid for by closing a tax loophole allowing corporations to keep off shore shell accounts.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which guarantees women equal pay for equal work.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted for State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted to fund $12 billion (with a B) to lend directly to NC small businesses.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted to end the abusive practices of credit card companies.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted to reform Wall St. and make sure we don’t have any more tax payer funded bailouts of banks.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted to require campaign finance disclosures.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted for pay-as-you-go rules.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted to reprimand Rep Joe Wilson who yelled out “You lie!” at the President.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted to reform our student loan system.
- We do have a member of Congress that voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the historic climate change bill.
Yes, there are other issues that he did not vote for. But the other good news is, you can give him a call and give him hell about it! That’s the other part of what democracy is about. During the last week of the health care fight, we sent over 2900 faxes to his offices in Washington DC and Asheville at a time when all the phone lines were busy. There’s a volunteer named Bo from South Asheville who calls his office every Fri on his way home from work.
We can call, write, fax, drop-in their offices and thank him for his good votes and give him hell for the ones we wanted. It’s our job to push our legislators towards the issues we believe in.
Here’s his contact info:
Congressman Shuler
(202) 225-6401 Washington DC
(828) 252-1651 Asheville
http://www.shuler.house.gov
But if we decide NOT to vote this year… Or if we decide to vote for the Republican candidate…
- We will have a member of Congress that votes 0% with the Democratic Party
- We will have a member of Congress that believes in Big Business more than the Middle Class
- We will have a member of Congress that wants to change our Constitution
- We will have a member of Congress that wants to let the wealthiest 2% of Americans keep their Bush tax cuts
- We will have a member of Congress that will vote to elect John Boehner as Speaker of the House. There are two words if we lose the majority in the US House… Speaker Boehner. And its not just Speaker Boehner. That means Speaker Glenn Beck. It means Speaker Rush Limbaugh. It means Speaker Fox News.
- and so on…
The accomplishments of President Obama, the accomplishments Elaine Marshall will be making in the US Senate next year, the accomplishments of Congressman Shuler, the accomplishments of our local legislators like soon-to-be Rep Patsy Keever, Rep Susan Fisher, Rep Jane Whilden, Sen Martin Nesbitt, Sen Joe Sam Queen, Sen John Snow, the accomplishments of city legislators like Gordon Smith, Cecil Bothwell, Brownie Newman, Esther Manheimer, Jan Davis and Mayor Bellamy…
Their accomplishments is what CHANGE looks like and it is sweeter and sweeter everyday.
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:49 am
The national stakes in this upcoming election are a lot bigger than one congressman from NC. If the other guys get control of either house of congress, we will have to hope that Obama will veto anything that comes out of a Republican congress. Given past performance, I don’t have that kind of confidence in the White House. They’re still trying to get along with the Republicans.
If the other guys get control of either house of congress, the GOP will embark on the same kind of witch hunt they pursued against Bill Clinton. There will be investigation upon investigation and probably a government shutdown. We’ll have put in charge people who believe government doesn’t work and who are, once again, determined to prove it.
If they get hold of the House there will be a Speaker John Boehner and, in the midst of the ongoing jobs and economic crisis still impacting this district, another impeachment.
Republicans will have no choice. Their radicalized base will demand it, scream for it – and in 2012 the Tea Party will primary any foot draggers who don’t push for it. The GOP knows this. You know this.
Vote your best interests in 2010 – and bring all your friends.
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September 5th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Paul, I am glad you continue to cite numerous facts and figures to bolster the argument in favor for re-electing Heath Shuler. Please keep up the good work. Alas, as is apparent on this forum and others, many of our friends and neighbors seem oblivious to the fact that Asheville is far to the left of the rest of the 11th District.
Please, people, do not let emotions hijack your vote. Unless, that is, you want to see the Obama impeachment that Mr. Sullivan rightly warns us is inevitable with a GOP win on November 2nd.
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September 5th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Paul,
Thank you for posting those facts and some of the more impressive (in my personal opinion) moments in Shuler’s voting history. It is most certainly easier to focus on the negative, in politics and in life, I suppose.
Thank you also for posting Shuler’s contact info. The more accessible, the better!
Do you mind elaborating as to how Republican candidate Jeff Miller would like to change the constitution if elected? I’ve glanced at his campaign website and nothing is jumping out at me, nor can I remember off the top of my head what he might have said to this effect when I heard him at the League of Women Voters District 11 Primary Candidates Forum back in April.
Two other notes I would like to make about this Primary Candidates Forum: Shuler did not attend this forum to debate the other Democratic candidate, Aixa Wilson. Shuler later blatantly lied about his history of not debating his opponents, saying “I debate all of my opponents” in a recent interview with Michael Muller for the Mountain Xpress, unless I somehow misinterpreted his response or he deigned to debate Wilson in some less-publicized forum outside of the Asheville city limits that I am unaware of. For me personally, this is one of a number of reasons I cannot fathom bringing myself to vote for Shuler in 2010. (In fact, I did not vote for him in 2008, either, for similar reasons. Needless to say, Mumpower’s Shulerman cut-out must have pulled on my heartstrings enough to influence my vote, but I digress…)
The second note I would like to make about the primary candidates forum, is that during the forum, Miller, supposedly one of the more “moderate” Republican candidates running, stated that either Mexicans and/or drug lords and/or illegal immigrants “have no values at all in life.” It was difficult to tell which of these groups of people he was referring to, perhaps because all three are one and the same in his mind.
While I personally cannot justify a vote for Shuler, I shutter at the idea of being represented by a man, such as Miller, who is comfortable making such statements, in a public forum no less.
Finally, thanks for such a great post, Tom! I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated it.
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September 7th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Heath Shuler has never debated an opponent in an open forum where members of the public could attend, look him in the face, and ask him a question that Shuler could answer while looking them in the face.
He dinged Congressman Charles Taylor for just this thing while running for office in 2006.
Fast forward two years later. Shuler refused to debate Mumpower…even refusing to answer the question on the record, posed by me on September 2, 2008 at WCU [link], then by Richard Bernier in Woodfin on September 4th [link].
In the first video, I used footage the Scrutiny Hooligans video channel, WNCNN, to show what I believed was an display of hypocrisy by Congressman Heath Shuler. He wanted Congressman Charles Taylor to debate him multiple times throughout the district starting in early September. Congressman Taylor refused.
In 2008, the newly minted Congressman Shuler, seeking his first re-election refused to face his challenger, except way out in the boondocks of Murphy, NC. He got out of that at the last minute due to a congressional vote.
He eventually faced Mumpy where he could be safely ensconced in the studios of WWNC, where only a select few media-types (both professional & amateur) had access to seeing him in person. That farce was only few days before the election and too late for the public good.
Will we see a repeat in 2010? I fear so. Both Mumpy and Miller (in their turn) participated in several debates and forums during their primary runs. It is my understanding that Congressman Shuler did not.
Shuler knew in 2006 that he could make laps around Taylor in a public debate. He therefore sought to engage him in multiple debates across the district during the general election cycle.
In 2008, he knew that Mumpy could probably clean his clock in a public debate, so he sought to avoid that at all costs. He succeeded.
In 2010, the story is even worse for Shuler. He has (n my opinion) little hope of comparing favorably with Miller, so I expect to see him continue to avoid debating in a public forum. I’d love to be wrong and have to eat my words, but I don’t believe that we’ll see Congressman Shuler debate Miller in forums across the district. At most, we might see one. I don’t count the studios of WWNC as a a public forum because there is no provision for a studio audience to be present in person.
I’ll leave you guys with a quote from a progressive blogger named Gordon Smith, (linked above) from October 1, 2008:
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