There have been a number of diaries lately that have talked about what we are doing to change the political landscape of this country. This is a topic that pops up once in awhile and usually devolves into minor flame wars wear one generation calls the other lazy and ineffective. Not fun flame wars.
I once asked what was enough in a diary. All I had done at that point was donate what little money I could. They said that if that's all you could do then that is good. But, here we are again discussing what is enough.
Some people are clearly doing a lot such as PsiFighter37 who has done a lot in the Lieberman/Lamont primary and has reported all kinds of good on the ground stuff. Others, such as myself, have not done as much.
I live in a little town called Kuna in Idaho. It is in the 1st Congressional district. There is an open seat here because the incumbent congressman, Butch Otter, has decided to leave his seat to run for governor. The Republican candidate is a man by the name of
Bill Sali. He is from my town of Kuna and is absolutely batshit insane. Name a rabid fundamentalist hate filled bigot anywhere in the country and he would give them a run for their money. He is so extreme that the Republican House speaker Bruce Newcomb, said of him
That idiot (Sali) is just an absolute idiot. He doesn't have one ounce of empathy in his whole fricking body. And you can put that in the paper.
His Democratic opponent is Larry Grant, a retired attorney and vice president of Micron Technology. He's a moderate Democrat who has a good chance at winning in Red Idaho mostly because of how extreme Sali is.
I've volunteered for Larry Grant's Campaign. I work three hours a week on Tuesday's for him. So far I've spent most of my time entering data in a computer and stuffing things in envelopes, but I hope to be more useful in the future. I met the man once and was impressed. I eavesdropped on a conversation he had with a couple of people in the office and they were suggesting things that were not the most ethical things in the world, not bad mind you, just things like having others write up opinions for him. He responded, that he had to do that because if something goes wrong with an opinion it needs to be his butt on the line, not a staffers. Integrity like that appears rare in Washington and I think he would be a good person there. Of course, anyone would be better than Bill Sali.
So that's what I'm doing, plus donating when I get a few extra dollars together. Is that enough, or should I quit my job and stop paying my bills and go camp out in front of the White house until Bush gets impeached?