This will be a short diary. I'll get right to the point--because time is growing short.
I'm off my arse (finally) and into the game (finally) ... well, let me spell it out for all of you:
O-P-P-O-R-T-U-N-I-T-Y
Axelroad et al. have the Romney forces, and the Republican Party, on the run. I know--polling is still tight, and anything can happen. I am not blind to the difficulties that lay on the road ahead. But in the coming next few weeks, the summer will officially end--and the fall campaign will be unofficially launched. And with that, the Obama forces having already marshaled a great network of people to do the necessary get-out-the-vote work will need a new infusion of money and grunts in order to close the deal. I want to be a part of the army of hardworking "Gruntocrats" as the march goes forward.
U-N-F-A-I-R-N-E-S-S
I am convinced that the "DON'T-get-out-the-vote" efforts of the Pennsylvania GOP could make everything that's happened up to now in terms of the election virtually meaningless if the current and intended effect the unfair and un-American Voter I.D. law is not somehow tamped down. I've moaned and I've groaned about it, and I've argued with GOP friends about it. In the end, I think only one thing is absolutely certain: I don't want to put every hope egg in the basket of trusting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will put the kabash on the Voter I.D. law. Uh uh. ActBlue is looking for cash to make sure that people are aware of this law and that, before time runs out, they do all that they can to ensure their right to vote in the upcoming election. ActBlue's not looking for a lot of money. Every little bit can help.
C-O-N-T-R-O-L
I am of the mind that the success of Elizabeth Warren and Tim Kaine in their Senate bids will come down to President Obama's overall success. In each race, the public polls have showed a neck-and-neck race. If Obama wins big in Massachusetts, so does Warren. If Obama wins Virginia, so does Kaine. Even if I am wrong, however, the ideological difference between a United States Senate in which one or both serve and that in which both Brown and Allen serve cannot be overstated. And these two races are so close that one can quite literally say. after contributing, that "my money made the difference."
L-I-S-T-E-N
Like so many here, I lived through the Presidential election debacle of 2000. I watched as the GOP pulled out every stop then and, frankly, fought harder than we did to ensure that Al Gore did not serve as President. I didn't live in Florida, but ... if I had ... and if I knew afterwards that I had sat on the sideline and not contributed every nickel, dime and dollar that I could during that election cycle to help defeat George W. Bush, the self-recrimination would have been almost never ending.
It is frightening to me that 2012 presents a largely similar scenario -- where there is a likelihood that voter suppression efforts may rule the day ... where a switch of just a few hundred or thousand votes could make the difference between having the opportunity to continue to promote and fight for a progressive agenda that helps working and unemployed Americans get back on their feet...between the life or death of Medicare as we know it...between marching forward or the repeal of our new national healthcare laws.... Between a country with strong labor laws and one without.... Between hope, progress and ... cataclysm.
You, me, this community -- let's vow today and going forward not to relive the regret of election-cycle 2000 over gain. If you can give your time and/or your money, please-- do what you can. And do it early--where it will make the biggest difference.