by Japa
Four weeks from today we will all be here doing an election post-mortem and analyzing the results.
We may be ecstatic, mildly happy, disappointed or devastated. Personally, I will reject the last one.
To be devastated is to give up, and I won’t do that. That would be a betrayal of our President. I will do everything possible to support him as he has to deal with even more opposition than he has had to date.
But, obviously, I am hoping for results that will not result in even the temptation to feel devastated. And achieving those results means not expecting others to carry the burden.
I wrote a while ago about how I always used to feel that as long as I cast my vote I had done my duty. 2010 woke me up a little when Joe Walsh won my Congressional district. At the time, I initially blamed the incumbent Congresswoman for being complacent and not recognizing that she needed to do more campaigning. And I blamed lazy Dems for not getting out to vote.
Since then, I realize I was also complicit in that defeat. I sat around, comfortable in my knowledge that no one would vote for idiot Walsh. I didn’t contribute time or money. I didn’t try to even get a sense of whether or not Walsh had a chance. I was as complacent and lazy as all those others I was complaining about.
Not taking time to vote is not the only way to be lazy. Finding the time to vote but doing nothing else is also lazy.
I swore I would never be that kind of lazy again.
In 2012 I did a little bit more, although I was still under the illusion that, since I knew Duckworth would win easily and that PBO would take the state easily, I didn’t have to do a lot. I contributed, did a little phone banking and convinced myself I was a super person.
That brings me to 2014.
We all can do something to make a difference. Some can do a little, some can do a lot.
I still live in a blue state and I know Duckworth will win easily. But the governor’s race is tight and if Rauner wins, he will make Scott Walker look like a Boy Scout. And my state representative is in a battle with a lot of Koch money going to defeat him. So I will donate, I will do some canvassing. On election day, I am taking the day off work to volunteer to drive people to the polls.
On our local progressive radio station there is a guy who runs a mortgage service. He makes it obvious that he is an unabashed progressive and that it is important that the GOP loses. He finishes all his commercials with the phrase “What are you prepared to do?”
That is a question we should keep asking ourselves right up to and through November 4.
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