So what is a guy in South Florida doing writing about a special election for school board in Fairfax County VA? The short answer is it’s because I was asked if I’d like to do it. But there’s more to it than that.
There’s a reason the Republicans dominate politics at every level. OK, there are several reasons — I’m not going to pretend that bigotry — backlash on civil rights and social issues - isn’t a big part of it, or that gerrymandering on top of a structural advantage based in geography isn’t either. But another big part is that they’re better organized and more disciplined than we are. For decades they’ve done the footwork of getting their candidates on the ballot and turning out voters, especially at off-year and special elections, to put them in office. And they did this the right way: they built a deep bench starting local. School boards, town and city councils, sheriff, etc. And that became the pool for state level offices, which in turn became the pool for national office.
Meanwhile, we Democrats have kept our eyes mostly on the big prizes. We turn out big in presidential years. We shoot for the stars and we celebrate when we get a hit. But it’s not a solid foundation. We have so many advantages that we squander. Poll after poll says a majority of the people agree with us on the majority of issues. We talk endlessly of demographic destiny assuring our eventual success. But that destiny stubbornly remains on the horizon because shooting for the stars once every four years isn’t enough.
Like I said in the beginning, I’m a guy in South Florida so I don’t know a heck of a lot about this race. Here's a good diary about Karen Keyes-Gamarra, the Democrat running in the race.
What I do know is that this race, like all the little local races we don’t think much about, is way more important right now than bickering over potential presidential candidates in 2020, let alone bickering over slights and offenses we all suffered in the course of last year’s contest. And yes, I know, I’m guilty of that too from time to time.
If you live in Fairfax County, please vote. If you know someone who lives in Fairfax County, please contact them and ask them to vote. Every long journey begins with a first small step.