I joined twenty fellow progressives in an Oceanside living room on Tuesday evening to watch the president deliver his State of the Union address. On the big screen TV our senators and representatives filed into the hall as the words crawling across the bottom announced that Cindy Sheehan had been removed and arrested for unfurling a protest banner. That turned out to be only the first of many falsehoods delivered that evening.
Someone said, "Just think, Jeeni, next year you will be there!" and suddenly all the work we've been doing for this campaign came into perfect focus. As the enormity of that prophecy fluttered back and forth from brain to heart, I realized how much is riding on its fulfillment.
Next year, that hall must be filled with leaders who will put the interest of the ordinary people of this country above everything. Our future, as a free people, as a humane civilization, as the human race surviving on this planet, rests on this one last chance to snatch democracy and integrity from the clutches of unchecked greed and blatant corruption.
As if to illustrate my thoughts, Justice Alito's name flashed across the TV screen as the newest addition to our Supreme Court entered the room. Like rubbing salt into a wound, the Senate managed to get him confirmed just in time to have him join the processional into the hall.
The day after the State of the Union, I spent hours on the phone and answering the e-mails of friends and supporters who are fighting back despair. They felt betrayed by the Democrats who didn't support the filibuster against Alito. They were sickened by the lies delivered by our smirking president. I listened and gave empathy but I didn't share their sense of hopelessness. Instead, I shared my secret with them: The worse it looks, the better it is.
Here's why I think things are about to get better. I've been out walking my neighborhood looking for registered Democrats to sign my In Lieu petition. I need to collect 3,000 signatures to use in lieu of paying the filing fee to be on the Democratic ballot in June. There is such a high turnover in my area that when I knocked on the doors of people listed as registered Democrats, many times I got someone new. And many of these people were registered as Republicans. While they couldn't sign my petition, their response to me was more energizing than anything I could have imagined. The majority of the time, it went something like this, "You're running for Congress? And you live here, in this neighborhood? I'll vote for you and I don't care what party you belong to. We need to get those lying crooks out of there!"
We've reached the tipping point. This is our moment. We don't have to move to the center. We don't have to raise millions of dollars. We can go for the golden ring. We can stand up and say we want peace, and universal healthcare and public education and strong environmental regulations and compassion and taking care of the less fortunate. In other words, we can be liberals. And if we can get the voting machines fixed (or should I say "unfixed"), we can win!
So, buck up my friends. This is not the time for giving up. We have a little over 275 days before the general election and a whole lot of doors to knock on. Let's tell people they have a choice and they have a chance. Let's stand proud and keep our eyes on that bright light at the end of the tunnel - next year when that hall is filled with freshmen legislators who do not owe their allegiance to anyone except the people who voted overwhelmingly for them, because they want change and they want the dream back that was America. That's when the real work will begin.