I'm tired of democratic activists being thrown under the bus...

[tabbycat31]

53. Are you involved at your local level?

All politics is local. I don't know if you follow baseball or not, but the way baseball's minor league system works is a good comparison to how politics works. Baseball teams scout high school and college players to play for their minor league teams, which are later a farm system for the big league team.

Now to compare this to politics, local and county elected officials are the high school/college teams and the local Democratic parties (and the GOP for that matter) will look to them to run for state legislature. State legislatures are the minor leagues of politics as many members of Congress get their start in the statehouse.

In my own county, all of the candidates that appear on the primary ballot (as we don't have contested primaries) are voted on at the county convention. Getting involved locally and at the county level gets you a vote at the county convention. I don't always agree with the candidate that is chosen (this year I did not), but it's the process and I will accept who the county backs. Being involved locally also lets you meet the candidates and get to know them. I now have a Congressman that I can to go for any issue (even though I was redistricted out of his district) and is on a first name basis with me. Without my local involvement, he would be just another guy in Washington.