HE THAT SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS MUST GO!
I hope I have found a way to participate effectively in this Presidential election!
I won’t type his name here. I won’t speak it out loud. If I see headlines blaring his latest malevolence, or his grotesque self-promotional melodrama, I just get the gist of the story and then I hit the delete button.
I avoid looking at any and all photos of his fakely tanned and deeply gullied face, a face which lately looks to me like the grotesque mask of the ugliest of gargoyles.
I have started praying that by some miracle, he will simply disappear before the March primaries.
He threatens the very fabric of our democracy. He tried with great purpose and careless disregard for life and our Constitution, to deny the election of 2020. He lied about Biden’s win (and continues to lie almost four years later.) He rallied a ragtag band of screwballs and incited them to riot. Armed and dangerous, they exploded into the historic and exquisitely beautiful Capitol building on January 6th intent on stopping the peaceful transfer of power from one White House administration to the next.
No one in American history has been so brazen to try anything close.
We live in a highly imperfect democracy that is now threatened by a self-centered madman. I woke up one day about a month ago and said to my husband, “I am terrified that he is going to win in November. What can I do to try to help stop him?”
Oh, I added, “I don’t want to write postcards.” I’ve done that before and I’m sorry, but it is incredibly boring; my husband who is a political activist says that postcard campaigns don’t help that much.
He didn’t have an immediate answer as to what I should do.
So in my meditations in the past few weeks, I have asked over and over again for Divine inspiration. “Help me find a way to join the fight to defeat him,” I kept saying. “Help me use my skills.”
A few days ago, my husband and I moved (for the winter) to Denver, where two of our children live, as do our wonderful son-in-law and our one-year old grandson.
And by some great fortune, I met an amazing woman named Alice, who has experience working for good causes and political campaigns.
I actually met her last August, as she hosts a weekly concert in her front lawn for dozens of her neighbors. Each week, she has different singers play in her East Park Hill neighborhood, filling the cool summer air with lovely sounds.
I had a blast at that concert and so I emailed Alice two months ago after I knew for certain that my husband and I would be arriving in Denver in January. She immediately wrote back, welcoming me with a warm email. Instantly she arranged for a coffee with a few of her good friends.
At that coffee this morning (not even two full days after I arrived here in the Denver) Alice explained that she would be doing some “deep canvassing” this year on behalf of Yadira Caraveo, a Congressional candidate in Colorado who is running to try to hold onto her House seat in a race inundated by tons of Republican money.
As she talked about deep campaigning, I began to realize that my prayers to the Divine were being answered. Here, she was telling me about a meaningful way I might get involved to try to reach people, and to persuade them to vote. The trick is to really listen to people, to find out what their circumstances and problems might be and to connect with them, from the heart.
When I got back home after that delightful coffee, I told my husband, who is a political activist, about my plan, and he was delighted.
“Actually,” he said, smiling, “There have been studies on the effectiveness of deep canvassing and it’s the most effective way to persuade people to change their vote.”
That’s huge.
And so now. Oh heavens, I am ready. To join the fight. Or at least to try to bring a little light to this very dark, and endlessly scary Presidential election year.
I agree with you, your friend, & Richard. Conversations with people in person or on the phone are the best two ways to affect elections. The Great Barrington Swing Left / Indivisible group, Left Field, will be supporting turning NY-19 blue, and it’s right across the border from us. We’ll be having phone banks registering NY Dems this winter, and outside in warmer weather. We’ll also be supporting the NY Dem congressional candidate via canvassing & phone banking.
I canvassed this fall in Hillsdale & in Austerlitz for the DA race which he won!) We were sent to only Democratic voter’s houses, and we met the nicest people. It gave me a new view of those towns.
Left Field is connected to NY19 Votes Coalition, who has been inviting us to participate in events they are planning, so we have a great inside partner & are on the inside already.
Let me know if you’d be interested in getting out emails & participating with us once you return home to Egremont.
I’d love to hear about your trip to Pugula too. Let me know when you’re back, and we’d like to have you & Richard over.
Great blog post!
All my best,
Alyson
My heart is heavy that we are so divided. I agree we “liberals” are too often perceived as elite, but being educated and “academic” does not translate to insensitive, disconnected, or arrogant.
For most of us it means deeply felt pain and sensitivity to others’ plights, and gratitude for an ability to share our good fortune. And to fight for that good fortune to be available to others. It’s a desire that ALL of us can be cared for - that it’s not a zero sum game. If I have more, others deserve more. No one should have or be less.
To vote is a right and a privilege that should never be taken lightly- no matter whom one votes for. The hope is that FACTS are the basis of a voter’s decision, not lies or hatred.
These are, at best, challenging times. Wars, homelessness, poverty. We MUST find common ground in a caring, kind, supportive environment. We can do this! We can save our democracy. I support Biden. I’m not ashamed of it. He surrounds himself with good people who rise above the hatred that has been espoused by his predecessor. I, for one, will do all I can to save this precious democracy and will work with Claudia to do so.