Like many of us here on DKos, I’ve let myself become subsumed by the neverending negativity in this year’s Presidential election coverage. I’ve dipped my toe, or, more accurately, plunged headfirst into the murky waters of the social-media Trumpfest.
As many of you have also done, I’ve spent precious time and energy challenging the Republican candidate’s lies, defending the Democratic candidate against his and his surrogates’ attacks upon her, and exposing the atrocious media for parroting these lies and attacks while giving Trump a pass.
By Facebook post, comment, or tweet, I’ve laid plain my anger, worry, outrage, fear, disgust, and bewilderment with links corroborating these toxic, albeit justified, emotions. Any free time in which I can squeeze among the duties of working a full-time job, parenting two teenagers, and managing a household has largely—but not entirely—gone to challenging, defending against, and exposing the ills of what has arguably become the most frightening electoral fight of our lifetimes.
It’s wearing me out, and it’s accomplishing nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Granted, I have spent my free weekend mornings or afternoons phonebanking here, canvassing there, mostly for down-ticket Democratic primary races that I’ve felt need it the most in my home of Tampa Bay. I’ve donated up and down the ticket, to first Bernie (yes, I was a Bernie girl) and then Hillary—and also down-ballot candidates from school board to U.S. Senate.
But I know I can do more.
Alalea’s diary from this morning inspired me to do just that.
In her diary, titled The 12-Step Program for Anybody in Freakout Mode, Alalea lays out a sensible, positive plan with specific steps for “finding your chill” and for not letting the negativity of either the Presidential election coverage or the unfairness of the media get to us and bring us down. Among her points of advice, she warns us not to engage in arguments on either social media or political websites (including Daily Kos), and she also cautions against reading article after article about how the media is so unfair; even if true, it’s not going to change anything.
But we can change things.
Her most important advice—next to getting out there and voting—is this: “The best thing for my election anxiety is working to change the thing I am anxious about.” (Emphasis mine.)
It’s not doing my anxiety, my friends or family, and the candidates and causes I care about any good by retweeting something nasty Hillary Clinton’s belligerent opponent said about her, posting an op-ed that laments the downfall of civilization should her opponent (God forbid) be elected President, or underscoring the cravenness of the Fourth Estate endangering our democracy by failing to report the whole truth.
We know these things already. People who don’t follow politics as much as we nerds do might know these things, too, even if they hesitate to admit it.
But how can we help our great Democratic candidates the most? How can we communicate how our candidates (including, but not limited to, the one running for President) will help our town, our state, our country? How can we refocus attention—ours, as well as those with whom we interact—on the good that Democrats can do versus the bad that those who regularly trash Democrats do, or threaten to do?
I’ll be frank. I wasn’t always fully on board with Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. I never liked the Third Way, DLC mentality that seemed to infect the “new Democrats” who thought they could run as Republican Lite and still appeal to their rank-and-file Democratic base. Both Hillary and Bill Clinton, in my view, had epitomized this mentality. As a Bernie primary supporter, I knew I’d never be a “Bernie or Bust”-er, but I did comment to my husband and others that, if my preferred candidate didn’t win the primary, I’d have to “hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils.”
I realize now that I was wrong. Hillary Clinton is a fantastic candidate for President, and her stances on the issues are very much in line with the traditional “party of the people” Democratic vision for America.
As President, she’ll push for an economy that works for everyone—rich, poor, and everyone in between. She’ll work to expand affordable healthcare access for every American. Strengthen working families with quality education from pre-K to college, paid family work leave for both moms and dads, fair housing policies, and investment in rural communities and family-owned farms. Fight for much-needed criminal justice reform, racial justice, gun violence prevention, and labor and worker’s rights.
But it’s not just her policies that I’ve learned about, which compel me to vote for her. It’s her very human story and involvement in improving people’s lives. Her decades-long commitment to public service. The fact that she’s not all “in it for her,” as the opposition likes to accuse—she’s in it to change lives and, in whatever way she can, improve life for Americans.
As I’ve dealt with mental-health issues for most of my life, I find it meaningful that Clinton has made mental-health reform a significant part of her platform. Specifically, her mental-health plan aims to focus on early diagnoses and treatment of mental-health conditions, suicide prevention, and investment in developmental science to find answers on how to effectively treat mental illnesses. Millions of people in our country struggle with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other conditions daily, and feel they have to hide these conditions rather than seek help due to the ongoing stigma around mental illness. That needs to change.
Hillary’s by far from being the only great Democratic candidate in this year’s election. We’ve got legions of them.
I knew little about Missouri candidate for U.S. Senate Jason Kander before I read the Daily Kos Elections coverage on his recent brilliant ad. After learning more about this Army veteran of Afghanistan, husband, father, and Missouri state representative via some Internet research, I was motivated to donate to his campaign. As a U.S. Senator, he’ll focus on military veterans and active-duty servicepeople and their families, rebuilding our middle class, and accountability in government.
Governor Maggie Hassan is running for U.S. Senate in her state of New Hampshire. Among many of her priorities are promoting full inclusion of people with disabilities, rebuilding our aging infrastructure, and protecting Social Security and Medicare.
As many here may already know, U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War veteran who now serves on the on the House Armed Services and House Oversight and Government Reform Committees. In Congress, she focuses on small business, infrastructure, and veteran’s issues, and aspires to continue her work as a U.S. Senator. In my eyes, she is an American hero and an inspiration.
And even more Democrats who are running at all levels of elected office need our help—not just our money, but our time and advocacy. Yosef 52 has a wonderful diary that’s filled with resources that include links to Congressional and Senate candidate pages, and also opens the floor (so to speak) for us commenters on Daily Kos to point people to other candidates who might not be as well-known but are worthy of our attention and support.
And our focus shouldn’t stop at the federal level. We can build our Democratic bench by promoting good progressive city council, school board, county commission, soil and water conservation office, county clerk, and state legislature candidates. Not sure which candidates are in your area? Search for “supervisor of elections” for your state or county; the Supervisor of Elections Websites, more often than not, have lists of all candidates for all elected offices listed on your ballot. My home state of Florida’s SOE finder lets you click a county to find out its specific county Supervisor of Elections office.
Do I feel that it’s still important to expose the truth about, and the lies told, by the opposing party’s figurehead in this year’s elections? Of course. But as Alalea warns, don’t let that become our main focus, and don’t let the negativity of the campaign season in general drown out the positive solutions that our Democrats can provide. Let’s focus on the latter and spread the word.
So this is what I commit to do from now through Election Day.
Instead of retweeting yet another article about how Donald Trump is a grave and present danger to U.S. democracy as we know it—however prescient and on-point that article may be—I’ll tweet the positive, groundbreaking things that President Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, or U.S. Representative Khary Penebaker can do for our country. In 140 characters or fewer.
Instead of kvetching in online comments about how the media never gives the Democrats a break—no matter how true that may be (and I believe it is)—I’ll post campaign links for state and local candidates in my area who need the attention but whose bids for office are sadly being eclipsed by the shadow that Trump & Co. have cast.
Instead of posting another Facebook diatribe about the perceived or actual evils of the opposition, I’ll share opportunities to volunteer or contribute to a promising Democratic candidate, or attend a candidates’ forum or other event where we can spread the word about how our candidates—and how we as Democrats—can make our country great for everyone.
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Another way Alalea’s diary has helped me is that she’s reminded me of one important aspect about ourselves.
The worst thing we can believe in the midst of the oceans of despair, doubt, and uncertainty as we face November is that we are powerless. We are not powerless. As our current President put it so eloquently when he echoed Gandhi’s words during his own campaign, we can be the change we want to see in our hometowns, in our country, and in our world.
Thank you, Alalea, for inspiring me.
