What to do? What to do? Please, dear friends, give me some good advice. I live in OH-08. Shall I fall on my sword for democracy? Is our nation really in dire straits or is this just another political cycle like any other cycle?
We need a Dem candidate by 4:00 p.m. on February 16 with $85 and fifty friends. Tick tock. Barry Welsh, who is running a grass roots campaign just over the Indiana border, is sending my husband e-mails urging one of us to run. So, please, tell me, what is the point of running against an unbeatable opponent with nearly unlimited funds?
Let me start off by saying that I am not a politician, nor have I ever had any political aspirations. I am just an average American who is alarmed by what I see as the escalating threat to the quality of American life, an unfeeling and incompetent government, and increasing global instability.
We are trying to make change in our own little corner of the world. We worked for Hackett last summer, donated to local & state candidates, and are supporting Dr. Stephanie Studebaker for OH-03. My husband was elected to the Village Council in the fall as a write-in candidate, and is a contributing editor on the 'Energize America 2020' team. After staying home to raise our children for the last ten years, I have recently been offered an opportunity to practice law right here in my little hometown, pop. 2500, and have helped to establish a non-profit food pantry run by our local churches. Other than that, I have just been desperately reading the blogs for signs of hopes, committing random acts of kindness, and waiting for SOMEONE ELSE to step forward to take on Boehner.
Where are you?
We have joined the Miami County Dems, and our county chair perhaps wisely recommends that if I can't stand the thought of Republicans running unopposed that I should run for County Commissioner because local offices are important, too, and maybe I would actually have a shot at winning. He does not seem worried about Boehner running unopposed. The thought of entering the voting booth with no other choice in the U.S. Rep. box makes my stomach tighten. I do not believe he is beatable, but is it worth great personal sacrifice to hold him accountable or at least make him campaign a little?
I emailed his staff a few months ago about his change of heart about the "Citizen Legislators" he called for in the Contract with America. The reply was that he realized (after a few cushy terms in D.C.) that legislated term limits really did not make sense; that a "transparent and robust electoral system" was all that was needed to naturally limit the terms of legislators who had outlived their effectiveness. Is running unopposed a robust electoral system? Is proprietary source code from only one supplier of voting machines transparent?
So, I ask you, is the state of the nation as bad I fear? Is it time for each and every one of us to pull out all the stops and do whatever we can to save our democracy? Are my children destined to a bleak future of federal bankruptcy, endless oil/water/amoxicillin wars, and lack of college loans/medical care/affordable housing? Or is this just another political cycle and I should calm down and go back to writing wills for farmers and raising my family?
And I ask you, how much do we owe our country? How much do we owe our fellow Americans? How much do we owe to our own families? Is running against the most high profile man in the House of Representatives worth the tremendous personal sacrifice?