The life of an organizer is an interesting one. It's not something people do for the money. It's not something we do for glory or recognition. It's something we do because we need to. We do it because it builds upon the existing the failed structure of community.
I remember in the 90's when I was young, we would meet up with our neighbors. Have BBQ's, swim in each others pools, my parents would get together for drinks and we as kids would meet up at the park. This isnt a difference in geography (though it is a concerning variable), it is a result of public policy.
Families used to go on vacations, they used to have money to travel, be able to do as much as possible to send their kids to college without hurting their bottom line.
Now people more than ever live paycheck to paycheck, could go bankrupt just by getting sick, and the losing your job even for a few months will mean a family will lose their largest physical and most important asset - their home.
I dont get great money. I get pretty good benefits. I left my family, my ever-loving girlfriend, my friends and my 130lbs golden retrieve (his my best buddy and we joke he is 1/2 polar bear with paws as big as my hands) to organize a community and help re-elect a President that has faced some of the largest challenges our County has ever experienced while pitting himself against the more vitriolic & disciplined opposition in history.
Most people I know dont know why I do this job. Sometimes the stress gets to me. Field work is the best work (#FieldWINS2012). There is nothing more important to me in our current democracy than people taking the time to talk to the public about policy that effects their daily lives. People, in general, or as I sometimes refer to these as the average american, do not have time to pay attention to politics and public policy because they are too busy working more for less, trying to teach their children as many of lifes lessons as they can while trying to find time to attend a baseball or soccer game to watch them play. We dont have time because the middle class and the majority of Americans cannot spare that exact thing - time. We are too busy working to just get by and do as much as we can to secure our retirements.
I do this job because I believe this country can be so much more. We we all have the opportunity to attend college AND afford it. To be able to have job security, to be able to have health insurance despite a persons employer.
I could preach the choir more, but I wont. Let's get President Obama re-elected in 2012 and we can work from there.
Son of a nurse and mechanic, a highschool dropout, and former fire fighter who saw the budget cuts coming across the country as public sentiment moved towards attacking the public sector and the rights of working families. I left my job to attend college, founded a a chapter of the worlds greatest fraternity (YITBOS), and headed the college Dems while working as a home health care worker and manager (which is now UNIONIZED locally in Southfield, MI), and graduated from Eastern Michigan University in Political Science and Non-Profit Management.
I interned with my local County party, served as Campaign Manager and Treasurer of two State House races and was invited to work as an organizer in Ohio. I left MI after believing MI was safe for Obama to what I believe is the most important State in the union for 2012.
I left a lot behind.
But the need for me to do so was greater than the pain that I, and my loved ones will feel.
I do this for my my nieces and nephews, the next generation. I do this because I am not worried about my future, but am scared for my parents who are about to retire. I am smart enough to get by but I worry for those who I love. I am damn good at my job and I will do everything in my fucking power to make sure Willard Mitt Romney never becomes President.