Roll up your sleeves!
This is my first post...sorry it's so long! I just need to rant a little!
Tonight I attended a meeting called "First we marched, Now we Huddle." It is part
of the 10 Actions for the First 100 Days campaign, which launched at the Women’s March on January 21st.
We held the meeting at the local Democratic Headquarters. The idea is for folks to get together
at a grass roots level and take actions to win back the world and country we want.
As a Democratic Precinct Chair I was thrilled to see a full room full of new people. I was happy, thinking
that these are people who have been moved to action and they will join with our coalition to help
move our county and area forward.
We started by introducing ourselves and saying a few words about why we marched and our fears in the
current political climate.
About half way through the room I found myself in shock and confusion. Who WERE these people!
Nobody, nobody mentioned health care. A few folks mentioned the environment. Mostly they wanted to
complain about politicians who are unresponsive to their constituents and political parties that
"divide" the country.
Their comments were full of misinformation and many were ignorant on the issues and pretty clueless
about how the government works. When I mentioned calling my 5 representatives they asked me what I meant!
(That would be my state Congressman, my state Senator, my US Congressman, and my 2 US Senators) If you
don't know WHO they are--how in the heck do you expect them to be responsive to you?
They kept blaming the "elitist political parties." Some folks even said
they had thought about not coming to the meeting because it was at Democratic Headquarters.
Elitist?? I have cooked for hours raising money for the Democrats. I have walked up and down
mountain neighborhoods knocking on doors to talk about our candidates. I have organized and called
and helped with mailings. I have worked in the cold and the rain and the heat at early voting and
on election day.
WTF??? These are folks that I haven't seen at any events or actions over the past 10 years. I haven't
seen them at school board meetings or county commissioner meetings. They didn't phone bank with us
for Obama or Hillary and they didn't help us register people to vote. I haven't seen them at Moral Mondays
or NAACP events.
So you bought a bus or plane ticket and went to Washington to march. Cool. Great. Now roll up
your sleeves and help us fix this shit!
Learn about WHY our government isn't working correctly! Find out about the Citizens United decision
and how money is ruining our democracy!
Find out WHY our country is so divided! Learn about how the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine
helped create and enable the corporate media!
Vote--EVERY time! It is important and you're not allowed to skip it because you "don't know anything
about the candidates." FFS--those judges you don't know about can make decisions that effect
your life!! Those school board candidates will make decisions about your children or grandchildren.
Meet your representatives. Go to their town halls. Call them on the phone. Make plans to see
them if you're in Washington or your state capital.
As for the two party system---it's the system we have and it is entrenched. The
politicians aren't going to change it because they benefit from the way it works right now. They
get elected and re-elected because idiots like you vote for the "person" and not the party. (That means
you check off their name because you heard of them--not because you really know what they did or
didn't do.) Instead--try joining the Democratic party and be part of picking the candidates that run.
Don't get me wrong...I loved the march. I appreciate all the wonderful people who marched all over
the world. I feel it's the start of something...but stop acting like we haven't been doing anything all these
years and educate yourself!
