Good evening, everyone who's still awake! I'd like to talk about the excellent meetup arranged by JamieG in MD at Union Station in Washington, DC, for DC area Kossacks. Here's a photo of the inside of the station.
We met in the food court. Union Station is a good choice for the yearly DC area meetup because it's accessible by public transportation. Later there will be diaries that include photos of those who attended, but as the photos were taken by Mimi and others, I don't have them to show here.
It was wonderful to finally meet the flesh-and-blood owners of the Kossack names I've been seeing around for many years. JamieG in MD masterminded the event, writing diary after diary to ascertain who was coming, what we would talk about, and what we would do for the fall elections. While making the rounds and meeting people, I encountered Veena (do hope I've spelled your name correctly), who asked what we're going to say to people to get them to vote.
JamieG has been involved for years in registering voters, which is the all-important first step in getting out the vote. But the next step? Motivation, my friends.
So how are we going to do that? What's the Democratic equivalent of the Republican slogan of "Smaller government. Less taxes. And..." Oops! I've forgotten the third one, I really have.
What do WE believe in? Equal "rites" for all? Fair wages? Universal health insurance? Justice for everyone? Women's right to health care?
There must be something, with our collective brains and talents, that we can agree on that would be succinct enough to go on signs, buttons, and t-shirts. Somehow we've got to agree on a 30-second or even 15-second elevator or Metro speech that would motivate people to think, "That's right. That's what I want. And voting in the election is the easiest way for me to get that."
How about it, Kossacks? Shall we make this a contest? If we can agree on that short, motivational GOTV speech, would the Powers That Be do a front-page diary about it?
All ideas are welcome, even silly ones like the following. Say you're interested in electing Wendy Davis as governor of Texas. If we could develop that short, snappy slogan and put it on a fan (you know, the kind of fan that looks like a ping-pong paddle), along with the words "I'm a fan of Wendy Davis," and fan ourselves vigorously at bus stops, in grocery store checkout queues, or in any other public space, people would be curious and interested. And they'd be reminded that there's an election in the near future.
Are you with me on this? I'm going to think about this a lot. And pretty soon I'm going to sleep on it.