Few of us need a refresher on the situation facing the nation as we head into election season this year. The economy is set for yet another jobless recovery -- and this one promises to be even more jobless than the last. Up to 500,000 layoffs of civic workers are in the offing. Unemployment hovers at record levels, foreclosures are being driven sky high by unemployment, and yet the pundits discuss a recovery -- because all they think about is productivity, which is measured in dollars, and they see plenty of that. Joblessness does not figure into their equations.
The folks who brought this upon us -- the purveyors of "conservative" government, neo-liberalism (upward redistribution of wealth), job exportation tax incentives, bailouts for the rich, tax cuts for the rich, contempt for the unemployed and cutbacks for the poor -- have the audacity to see tax cuts, entitlement reform, deregulation and corporate lawlessness as the solutions to all of our problems. Worse: these anti-American zealots are, according to all sorts of paid "experts" in the media, poised to win a lot of municipal, county, state and even federal elections this fall.
That's right, the supply siders and their media lapdogs think they are going to win a majority in the House, and maybe even in the Senate too.
Can you stand it? Does it make your blood boil?
Well, you can do something about it. Nationwide, the unemployed are becoming politically aware -- they are developing something of a class consciousness, if that term can be allowed a very wide use.
Among the biggest sites in the unemployment netroots is LayoffList, managed by Michael Thornton, a native of Rochester, N.Y. Thornton started LayoffList in 2008; five months ago, he began writing articles and posting legislators’ information on the Rochester Unemployment Examiner. He now receives hundreds of emails and has logged more than a million hits at the Examiner. Thornton is finding that, rather than losing interest in politics since the end of the fight for extended benefits, the unemployed are "energized and motivated" and have started looking forward to the fall.
These unemployed folks, the "unemployed netroots" (sad yet very cool term, eh?) are organizing online. The topic even made it onto the Rachel Maddow show last week. They are going to rallies, stuffing envelopes, calling legislators, phoning voters, knocking on doors, entering data and doing the work that we all know as political. I can think of no better way to use my extra time when I am unemployed than doing political work.
I am currently employed but have been chronically unemployed or underemployed for over a decade. I expect to be unemployed again in the near future.
Oh sure, I can always work on that book I am writing. But when I am unemployed again, I will do political volunteer work, as I always do, because:
>I have the time and believe in the causes I work for.
>They usually feed me when I go in.
>The people I work with are interesting and help me find jobs.
>Its nice to feel useful, and
>Somebody has to do it!
The left and the Dems will have little or no chance of winning elections or passing initiatives in lots and lots of places without an army of volunteers.
I am writing this to urge all dkos users to volunteer!
Do it even if you have a job.
If you don't, if you are killing time every day and want to apply yourself to something, think of how useful you could be to an underfunded campaign in your area. Many statehouse races are especially important this cycle because the next congress in your state will handle reapportionment after the census data comes in. You want the D's handling that, don't you? I do. And I probably don't live in your state. There are lots of federal races as well, and many of them are underfunded.
OFA is being spread very thinly -- their shifts are going almost entirely to incumbents, so that challengers in red-to-blue races, unless they are DCCC recognized, are getting nothing from OFA -- not volunteer lists, not volunteer shifts. In fact, OFA is pulling vols from the districts of challengers and using them for phone banks and canvasses in the districts where there are endangered incumbents.
Upshot: Red to blue races are being starved of volunteers. Is there one in your area? If so, can you give them ten hours a week? Can you hold a volunteer phone bank at your house twice a month? Can you donate food for their vols, or do data entry for them? Do you have an old printer, or a stack of unused copy paper to donate? Clipboards, a box of pencils, a box of paper clips or staples?
Contact your local races now. That is my message. Don't wait until September. See what you can do, and get involved, and stay involved and help make this season a better season than it would have been without you. If you can't do it, then activate your friends.
You will not be sorry. Doing the work feels good and it keeps your spirits high. Looking forward to something (like an election) is therapeutic -- and so is hard work. Heck, just having a goal has been therapeutic on many occasions when I have been unemployed. If you can walk 100 doors a week from now until election day, you can get to over 1,200 doors. If you can make 400 phone calls a week from now until election day, you can make over 5,000 calls.
Ten volunteers working that hard in a congressional district could swing an election. It could make a big difference in places like AZ-03, KS-04, CO-06 or VA-07 -- all of which are red-to-blue and winnable with enough effort from volunteers. In a statehouse race, three or four volunteers of that quality could swing a race.
In just one month election season will be upon us. At that point it will be a short nine weeks to the election. The election is less than 100 days away. There is no time like the present. In fact, this is the ideal time to volunteer if you are hoping that your efforts will lead to a paid position -- for instance, in mid-September.
To find a local race, search for your state's congressional or legislative districts, and then search for the local candidate in your area. You can also find them through state Democratic Party websites, municipal Democratic party sites and County party sites. A local union should be able to help you find them as well. To volunteer on a ballot initiative, find it online and look for the volunteer or contact info on websites for the organization(s) backing it.
Volunteer now. The stakes are very high and the whole world needs you to do this. Please do it. And thanks for all you do.