It has taken me a lifetime to learn the simple lesson that "the system" is relentlessly gamed by powerful D.C. elitists on both sides of the aisle comprised of lawyers and corporate lobbyists, opinion leaders/pundits - established forces that gain everything from control of the message, the status quo and all the initiatives in foreign and domestic affairs that flow from such control.
ELECTIONS count, however, and elections will ultimately control everything if the Democratic party succeeds. I did my part in 2007-2008. I carry voter registration forms with me wherever I go. And during the last election cycle, I registered nearly 1,000 new Democratic voters.
YOU CAN, TOO!
Nothing is more rewarding to me than seeing the sparkle of recognition in the eyes of a new voter! With the humble power of one vote, new citizens and new 18 year-olds suddenly realize that all the talk in the world doesn't really matter very much at all in a free society unless it is backed up by actions taken within the system at the only polls that really matter - ELECTION POLLS!
Your local board of elections should have a bulk supply of voter registration cards that they can supply you with. Start with a dozen or two. The battle for control of the Senate and the House of Representatives in 2010 has already begun! It started with Dick Armey, Freedom's Watch and the so-called populist ragtag teabaggers - independents and libertarians, the disillusioned and disaffected, ultra right-wing radical extremists and racists.
Do not be disgruntled by the limited choices on so-called health reform that D.C. has recently so charitably bestowed. Do not be distracted. Stay on target. Be relentless, and enjoy the reward. It's your right as a citizen, and it's the only thing that really matters.
Moving the Progressive agenda is obviously not something that we can count on. So put that Democratic bumper sticker on your car, carry picket signs, take part in massive demonstrations, and orderly disobey and disrupt wherever such action can make a difference. BLOG!
But get your mind wrapped around the franchise, and register new Democratic voters! It will be more important than ever in 2010 that we maintain the steady erosion of principles most recently laid out under Bush, and destroy the myth of any popular Republican legitimacy!
Republican administrations have never done anything for me. Not since Eisenhower. Let's give Washington a super majority of Democrats that relentlessly change things for the better! Give Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi no choice. The House did its job with a greater percentage plurality. The Senate must be next!