The first presidential election I remember was 1972, Nixon versus McGovern. My Dad was 100% in the Nixon camp and my Mom was 100% in the McGovern camp. They were almost always politically opposite, "cancelling each other's vote" they said. I remember each trying to convince the other to "save yourself the trouble - if you don't vote, I won't vote" and that neither would take the bait. I don't think either would have lived up to the agreement, had they struck one, but there are some things we'll never know.
In the fall of 1972 I was 13 years old and madly in love with a boy named Andy. Andy was in 8th grade (I was in 7th) and he liked me, so I felt pretty darn special. Andy was a big Nixon fan, so he and my Dad took to each other like a fish to water. I told Andy I didn't care about that stuff, but he'd tell me how important it was to know the candidates and the issues, and to be involved. Looking back I realize I was swayed by my affection for Andy to cheer for Nixon in that election - not my finest, independent woman-to-be moment, but I also started to care about politics and government and to pay attention. I was registered to vote within a week of my 18th birthday.
I was too young to vote in the 1976 election by two and a half months and if Jimmy Carter had lost to Gerald Ford, I'm not certain I would have gotten over it. So since my 18th birthday, I've always voted. Over the years I've put issue and candidate bumper stickers on my car or office door, I've talked to friends and family members and co-workers where it was permitted, always asking for their opinions and sharing my heart-felt reasons for supporting the views and candidates I support; and I've written and commented at web sites, political and non-political.
Until this year my comfort zone ended there, with bumper stickers, private conversations and anonymous posts on-line. This year I realize it's not enough. I have to get out of my comfort zone if I really want to make a difference. And I believe, more than at any other time in my life (not to mention this country's history) that a difference - a big time Change - is needed.
So here I go taking a leap of faith out of my comfort zone.
- I've volunteered to work with my congressional district's
democratic candidate.
- I'll be walking my neighborhood for the Obama campaign, doing what I can to get voters registered and the Obama message out.
- I've given money (not much, but what I can) to the Obama campaign and the
Kay Hagan for U.S. Senate campaign (It's time for Liddy Dole to go, not that she was ever really here).
- And today, inspired by a diary
here and a
post elsewhere, I've volunteered to be a poll worker in my county.
The part of the post that convinced me follows:
YOU can be the angel some voter needs this November when they are told that they cannot vote because an uninformed poll worker refuses to communicate, or is even actively preventing others from exercising their right to vote. It's not a glamorous job, but in my opinion, pollworking is the most important job a Progressive can undertake on Election Day. Voters can only be denied their right when we allow it to happen. If we are on the front lines, arguing from a position of authority, we can combat ignorance and outright voter intimidation by being the worker that calls the election officials for the voter when their rights are being abused.
Taking a day off from work is a big deal for me - I have no paid time offf - but I can work extra hours that week to make up for Tuesday and it will all balance out. That isn't as comfortable as going to work, checking the news on-line throughout the day then going home to watch returns with my kids, but maybe it will teach my sons that participating sometimes means more than being an informed voter. For the first time in their lives, they're interested and paying attention to an election.
My oldest son, born in November 1990, is going to miss this year's election by a matter of days; he's not happy about it, but he doesn't believe that voters in this country could be "stupid enough" to vote for John McCain, so he's not worried. My youngest, once strongly influenced by his right-wing Dad, is cheering for Barack Obama. This kid who can't wait to turn 18 and graduate from high school so he can join the military, who finally believes me when I tell him that I will find a dungeon to lock him in if our military is still in Iraq when that time comes, proudly put the MoveOn "Bush's Third Term: McCain" bumper sticker on my car a few weeks ago. He wants to know when our Obama/Biden magnet is coming.
Finally, starting today, each time the opportunity arises I will call the local talk radio shows to suggest that they quit talking about lipstick (or whatever silliness replaces it) and start talking about issues.
- Issues like
health care - I can't be the only one in this area to be hopelessly in debt thanks to health problems and junk insurance
- Issues like
unemployment - which is especially high here thanks to out-sourcing - plenty of listeners are working temporary (they thought) jobs because good, permanent jobs are now few and far between
- Issues like
home foreclosures - how many "for sale" or "for rent" signs are in your neighborhood? How much less than you paid for it is your home?
- Like the
military families who are barely surviving and
- Like the
vets who can't get the help they need because we've had year after year of lip service to "supporting the troops" but nothing more
- Like the
invasion of Iraq and the thousands killed or permanently scarred because of it - not just our people, the world's people
- Like
climate change - will there be a planet left by the time I have grand-children? How about my sons' grand-children?
- Like
energy independence - can we please have a government that will do more about dependence on foreign oil than talk about it once a year in a state of the union address?
It's all out of my comfort zone, but I believe we need a change, a big change. I believe electing Barack Obama and a serious Democratic majority in congress is essential if there's to be any hope of change.
Have you left your comfort zone lately? If you're scared, grab my hand and we'll do it together; I'm scared too. But I'm more scared of what happens if we don't.