I was fresh out of college, and enveloping myself into grad school. My first job was selling pharmaceuticals to doctors - on the phone. That job ended when I suggested to the owner of the company that her statistical models needed some help. Meanwhile, a more intriguing phone job had presented itself.
I became a fundraiser for the New Party.
Joel Rogers from the U. of Wisconsin had gotten a MacArthur grant. He decided, in the early '90's, to find a way toward third party relevency. He started court cases to challenge "fusion" voting around the country - if you're in NY or Montana you might understand this - we can actually vote for major party candidates on minor party lines - I for one always vote dems on the working family party line.
Funny that, the organizer from the New Party moved to the Working Family Party when the former died...
The idea was the same as the blogs. We support you, but you need to recognize that 20%-30% of your base comes from people who fundamentally disagree with your policy.
We endorse you, fucking listen to us.
I spent a year doing this. I raised funds from George Mcgovern. I probably raised funds from some of you. I was raising the issue of the religious right before it was a national issue. I remember those conversations - the religious right is taking over your school boards; they want to prevent science from being taught; they want your children to be ignorant.
This was FREAKING 1994.
I was 22.
I didn't want the right wing to take over this country.
I failed.
We cannot fail again. There are 10 days left.
We cannot fail again.