Blue states - make sure everyone votes anyway! I know, I'm preaching to the choir here. I live in New Jersey, in the 12th congressional district. My congressman, Rush Holt, is one of those liberal Dems usually targeted by the RNC for defeat every congressional election. This year they are otherwise occupied. Ha ha!
We live in a very liberal leaning little town, but even here you see one McCain sign for every two Obama signs. Even where we Democrats traditionally have majorities they can be close majorities. Kerry's margin in New Jersey was 7%. Not huge! My little village center tends to vote Democratic, but the larger township surrounding us often votes Republican. I have actually heard people say this election is in the bag and they don't have to worry - and that makes me worry, big time!
I am a small business owner (very small!) and I was reminded of the political mix around here at my business networking meeting Friday morning. People I see every day, do business with, do not necessarily vote the way I do. I was reminded that we can't get complacent - we've got to get out and make this happen, and yes, GOTV!
We have a diverse group of business people in our networking group. Most of us are business owners, most of our businesses are very small. The group includes the chair of the county Republican Women's organization, and the treasurer of the local Obama campaign field office, a guy who was originally designated a delegate for Hillary to the Democratic convention, and another who is the former Republican mayor of the township. It's a friendly group; we look out for each other and try to help each other grow in business. There's often a lot of joking and back and forth about politics.
For months the banter was two sided. Then in the past month or two the Republicans got quieter and quieter. The week the financial crisis hit the former Hillary delegate walked in and gave me a big high-five. "Trickle-down theory is dead!" he yelled. No snappy come-backs from our Republican friends, which is unusual. That same week the local Obama campaign treasurer had a stack of Obama t-shirts delivered to him at the meeting. Repub One said to Repub Two, "don't you want to buy one off him?" and Repub Two said, "if the guy wins, I'll buy one."
The week after that the Sarah Palin jokes flew hot and heavy and again our Repub friends had no comebacks. I started to think that these guys, who are good decent caring people, might be seeing the light. Probably some of them are. Then this past Friday things sounded different again. We go around the room and talk about what we're looking for in our business that week. We didn't really stay "on message," a lot of politics crept in.
One guy (Dem) gave a rather moving talk about hope in hard economic times. Another (Repub) spoke about under-dogs succeeding through hard work, then added, "who knows, maybe that will happen next Tuesday." That got a fair amount of laughter, and "don't count on it." Then the Repub former mayor got up and looked at the guy who gave the moving little talk and said "think very hard when you go into that voting booth next Tuesday about what you're going to do, because if you get what you think you want, the world you know could change in ways you won't even recognize."
Well, the joking was over for me at that point. It was my turn next and I looked at him and said, "I'm going into that voting booth on Tuesday and I'm going to do what you don't want me to do. And the world is going to change so that we hardly recognize it. It's going to change into the world I've been hoping for my whole life."
I am in business for myself and I struggle with several debilitating chronic illnesses. I manage to work most days, but I don't have much left at the end of the day. I have not managed to volunteer much in this campaign because my health and stamina have just not allowed it. I am doing what little bits I can, when I can. I will be going to Philly to do Voter Protection on Election Day. Part of my leaving everything on the road has been, and must be, cheering others on. So take this diary as some more of that.
You're all wonderful. Keep it up. Let's change it into the world we've been hoping for.