Sometimes I canvass over the weekend for Obama in Aston, PA. Mostly republican township. I feel uneasy walking this territory. Especially in the past couple of weeks when the other party's rhetoric verges on the edge of racism that incites the rabid amongst the gathered.
But even then I feel driven by being engaged in a movement bigger than my fears. The central office in Media, PA where we get together in the morning to collect our contact lists, is manned by young and old, colored and whites, men and women. Some parents bring their children too.
We are all volunteers. The field director gives us our tasks. No loud cheers, no grand talk. That time will come too. But for now we file from the office with quiet determination to knock on door to talk to voters.
In Aston county, dominated by republicans in city council, you can get a government job (teacher,post office, township govt. job, etc.) only if you are a registered republican. If you apply for a job and you indicate on the application that you are a registered democrat the application will be rejected. So democrats who work for the govt. indicate on the applications that they are republicans when seeking a city job. Such intimidation in a dictatorship/communist regime is to be accepted. But to see this here deeply saddens me.
When democrats open the doors they talk in hushed voices, so that their neighbors may not overhear their political affiliation. They talk of how disillusioned they are with the present conditions in their life. Their economic uncertainty, with their 401k plans decimated by the greed and corruption encouraged by the massive deregulation of Wall street in the past eight years. And a laundry list of other changes that have bred an uneasiness and fear in their lives.
So thousands of progressive volunteers knock on doors across the country every weekend to register new voters, to encourage independents to vote for progressive and democratic ideas, to ask for their donations. We talk about policies on health care, taxes, education. We encourage them to join this movement where we gain strength from our collective belief that:
In this country, justice can be won against the greatest of odds; hope can find its way back to the darkest of corners; and when we are told that we cannot bring about the change that we seek, we answer with one voice - yes, we can.
- Barack Obama, Raleigh, North Carolina, May 6, 2008