Good morning!
This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread where we try to get together every Saturday morning around eleven, and then drift in and out throughout the day. We hope this group serves to reinvigorate us locally and regionally here on Daily Kos, building on the sense of community that's grown through our online engagement. DKos Asheville can give us all a better sense of connection, a better understanding of who these people are that we stand with, work with, and share with in the political process. We hope, through this community, that we can do a better job of leveraging our orange passion for progressive politics to help elect more and better Democrats.
If you would like to host a weekly open thread, please let us know.
Here in Asheville I'm guessing that most folks have heard the term Seva, service. As I think of the appreciation voiced by so many as they've passed our table in front of the grocery store, this idea of Seva comes to mind; work we do for the benefit of others. In my view, what most of us here at Daily Kos do is work for social, economic, and environmental justice. Whether it's by sharing information in comments and diaries, linking to articles and wiki entries, embedding videos; or whether it's further afield from these pages doing phone banking, or knocking on doors for campaigns, or making signs; or whether it's outside of political engagement working disaster relief, feeding the homeless, cleaning up creeks and rivers; each of us in our own way contributes.
RandallT, LamontCranston and I attended the Moral Monday rallies, and we were inspired by the commitment so many were making to stand up for all those who would be hurt by the policies of the Republican legislature and governor in Raleigh. And we were also inspired by the driving force behind the Moral Monday movement, the Reverend William Barber. And the service that Reverend Barber implored of us was to go out and register voters, and to do it now.
So we decided to take this on as a project for DKos Asheville. None of us had any experience registering voters, but it turns out that, at least here in North Carolina, it's pretty easy. And for those who don't like phone banking or knocking on doors, registering voters can be a passive, non-confrontational way to get actively involved. You're there making it possible for people to register; that's it. Folks walk by, they see the sign, and then they're trying to remember if they registered after their last move. They walk over, you've got the forms, and they're registered.
And when they've registered, they feel engaged; registering is a pro-active demonstration of engagement in community. And you make that possible; registering voters empowers people.
And the other folks walking by, those who see the sign but are already registered, seeing us out there reminds folks of what's at stake; it reminds them of what the legislature did this past year, it reminds them of what the Republicans in Congress did this past year, it reminds them of how important 2014 is going to be. As they walk into that grocery store, there is perhaps an impetus for them to get a bit more engaged as well.
We have a lot of work to do all across the country to prepare for the 2014 elections. Right now we are seeing in Virginia an election for that state's Attorney General that will be decided by a little more than 100 votes. These elections in 2014 will make a difference in our world moving forward; and each of us can do our part to help shape the outcome. And one of the ways that we can do our part, an easy, fun, thing we can do together as Kossacks, an important and effective thing we can do to make a difference in our world, is register voters. And the best time to start doing that is now.
Randall has once again written a wonderful summary of our latest outing which you can read here. We will be out there again this Tuesday, from 3:00 to 6:00, in front of the Westgate Earthfare here in Asheville. If you can, please join us!