How to Feel Better When Your Candidate Loses

Later tonight, if you are watching C-SPAN or MSNBC glass-eyed because your candidate is making his or her concession speech, I have a sure-fire way that you can feel better about yourself, especially for those of you who live in cold-weather climates.

It's not alcohol. It's not drugs. It's not even a gesture like throwing your support behind whomever wins the Iowa Caucus tonight.

Think about your furnace. Is it running? If so, you have a lot to be thankful for.

Personally, I am fortunate. I live in Northwest Portland and I get to walk to work because my office is just 15 minutes away. And, when the workday concludes, I don't have to fight rush hour traffic to get home.

In the wintertime, the walk is reinvigorating. The cold, reasonably clean air helps me clear my head. It never occurs to me that the heat might not be working when I get home. I am lucky enough to take it for granted and think of the cold weather as refreshing, not oppressive.

While we, in the Daily Kos community, have fought tooth-and-nail over which Democratic candidate should win in Iowa and presumably receive the party's nomination, there are a lot of people who don't have heat in the winter, much less internet access. They might be sitting home alone tonight with only one lamp on, dressed in layers, heating up the house with the oven.

This thread isn't about feeling liberal guilt. It's actually a license to be pretty selfish. Feel bad about Edwards, Obama, Clinton or Dodd losing the caucus?  Here's a quick fix: help a low-income person not have to choose between food and heat this winter. After all, that's what communities do. This is how we share the burden for the benefit of all and maybe start to move past some of the recent ugliness.

If you can I encourage you to donate a few spare dollars to one or more of these worthwhile charitable organizations dedicated to providing heat assistance for the less fortunate among us:

Colorado: Energy Outreach Colorado
Connecticut: Warm Thy Neighbor - Operation Fuel
Maryland: Fuel Fund of Maryland
Michigan: The Heat and Warmth Fund
Missouri: Bishop Sullivan Center
Oregon: Oregon HEAT
Pennsylvania: Dollar Energy Fund

If you know of others, please link to them in your comments.

I know the recommended diary list will be a tough nut to crack today, so if it means raising a few more dollars, I'll pimp for your recommendations right here.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck to your candidate today in Iowa.

•  it damn cold here!

  by aaraujo on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 11:01:32 AM PDT

•  Most utility companies

  have a "heat assistance" fund of some sort that you can contribute to just by adding a dollar or two to your payment.

  I always add a couple bucks . . . never miss it.

  by prodigal on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 11:08:22 AM PDT

  •  Great idea n/t

    by radical centrist on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 11:19:08 AM PDT

•  Do what Dean did

  Drown your sorrows and scream at people.

  by FischFry on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 11:20:58 AM PDT

•  you've got energy, now here's food:

  secondharvest.org is another great charity.  Send 'em a few, if you can.

  by bubbanomics on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 11:22:24 AM PDT

•  I need some help with heating, it's ridiculous

  I may have to move out of my apartment because i can't afford the oil.  Its $800 to fill up my tank with oil, and that's only been lasting a few weeks, today it is 7* outside, and I'm dreading going home and seeing more oil burned up.  Thanks for trying to get some awareness for this, I can still afford it although struggling, some can't at all.

  by rigso on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 11:27:52 AM PDT

  •  Jiminy Christmas

    That's crazy.  Fuel, utility, and medical costs are eating families alive.  We may all have to march on Washington en masse soon just to stay warm, save on gas, and keep our blood pressure down.

    by MsSpentyouth on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 11:36:19 AM PDT

•  Just pretend you supported Edwards all along

  :)

  by Subversive on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 12:30:37 PM PDT

•  Oklahoma = "Share the Warmth"

  by bartcopfan on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 09:47:33 PM PDT