My big sister won this election for you. You’re welcome.
I am mostly relieved as I contemplate heading to bed tonight. It turns out there was a Blue Wave after all. And of course, there are caveats and concerns…It was not as big as I would have liked, and I am just perplexed about WTF in Florida. And I think Beto should run for president, and…and…and… But clearly at the heart of the big enough Blue Wave was women…amazing female candidates all across the country. There will be a lot of new female congresspeople come the new year and some returning favorites like Nancy Pelosi. I know others will discuss the particular dimensions of the wave and all the different kinds of wonderful candidates who won and some who lost. But behind these female-powered candidates were female-centered campaign workers, women who did the heavy lifting of organizing, calling, canvassing, writing, mailing, and convincing. And, whatever comes next, I want everyone to know that, from where I sit, my big sister (and all the women like her), won this race for you all. You’re welcome.
My sister got involved early on, working on issues since right after the 2016 election. She joined her local Indivisible group in Portland, OR. She started working with Moms Demand Action for gun control. She’s been campaigning and calling and organizing for two years straight. My sister is a single mom with a kid in college in far away New York. Affording college is such a challenge these days. Over the last two years she has moved a bit from job to job, trying to find the right fit. Just last month, she got a new job and then moved from her basement apartment into a bit nicer of a situation. Any one of these life changes would be enough to derail most people’s activism. I wouldn’t have blamed her at all had she thrown up her hands and said, “I’ve just got to do me right now.” But through it all, she hasn’t let up on the campaigning and activism one bit. She’s kept at it and pressed others to get off their ass and get involved.
She’s lost a few friends over these last few years too. Not closet Trump supporters but good, white liberal folk who seem quite comfortable in their circumstances and don’t lift a finger or pitch in or do the necessary work to make change. She has called them out on their inactivity, pressed them to do *something* anything beyond complaining or worrying. Just voting the right way…also not enough any longer. Taking action, that’s where it’s at. My sister has been at this for months, years literally. Pushing everyone to get involved, to do more, to be better. And she’s knocked on *A LOT* of doors and made *A LOT* of phone calls. She told me just this last weekend, while she was out canvassing for Kate Brown for Gov. in Oregon (Go Kate Go), someone who’s door she had knocked on invited her in for tea. I mean what? I’ve knocked on a lot of doors…no one *ever* invited me in for tea. That’s just the way she is. Then my sister said to her new friends: “you guys look like you are doing really well. You’re comfortable. Why aren’t you out there knocking on doors? You can’t just depend on me to do all the work for you.” Yeah…that happened. We’re not in a place any longer where you can have your pretty ideas and just figure everything will work out ok one way or the other.
I have been active since the 2016 election too…but not as much as my big sister. Every day and week I would hear the catalogue of her activity and feel like whatever I did was not enough. That’s ok. Up here in Seattle my little family tried to do what we could. We spent a good month+ knocking on doors in the WA 08 CD for Dr. Kim Schrier (still counting…fingers crossed). And we spent a weekend in the WA 03 CD working for Carolyn Long. And we wrote letters and did made some phone calls and donated what money we could. I didn’t want to wake up the day after the election and feel like I could have and should have done more. I didn’t want a repeat of the feeling I had in Nov. 2016. I’m just the little brother. My big sister inspired me. And I want everyone to know it.
Now my sister is not what I would call a shrinking violet. She can be brash and she has some sharp edges. But my sister, and these other wonderful, brash, sharp-edged women around the country…they get shit done, and they are the reason we did as well as we did last night.