Up until the presidential election of 1960, when a televised debate between JFK and Richard Milhaus Nixon turned their election season into a game-changing win not just for the young Senator from Massachusetts but for the Democratic Party for a generation, what drove most Americans to the polls was a simple knock on their door by a neighbor.
Not endless television and radio ads. Not full-page ads in The Wall Street Journal. Just a tap, tap, tapping at their door, by someone who lived in their neighborhood. Someone who felt voting was so important, they were willing to give up a few afternoons and evenings, and spend them knocking on doors and asking for five minutes of their neighbor's time, to listen.
Walk-n-Knock is old school politics. It costs next to nothing. It requires no donation
drives, no endless emails begging for money. All it takes is me and you walking around our neighborhoods, where we live, talking to our neighbors for a few minutes.
Think you are up to the challenge?
Want to surprise not just the conservative media bobble-heads, but the big kahoonas of the Democratic Party, too?
Because I guarantee you, massive participation in the #WalkUrPrecinctWeek project this summer and fall would do exactly that.
It's my dream, to show the pundits and the media moguls that the true power in American politics still lies with The People. Even after Citizens United and McCutcheon.
Will you join me, and imagine a better way to participate in your electoral process than merely chucking dollars at emails?
Each 2nd week of July, August and September will be #WalkUrPrecinctWeek.
Spend as much or as little time as you can spare during the week knocking on doors in your neighborhood, talking with your neighbors about why voting on November 4th is seriously important, for you AND for them. Better yet, be sure to ask each person to join you in spreading the word. Hell, make it a neighborhood event, host a block party in June and recruit some folks to help you cover more ground. You can also attend your Legislative District monthly meeting, meet your LD Chair and ask for help in organizing not just your precinct, but all precincts in your LD!
What you'll need:
A precinct map, a notepad and/or a tablet to record which addresses you contact. That's all.
You can get precinct maps from:
Your local County Democratic Party.
Go to Democrats.org - In Your State
Use the drop-down menu, choose your State. Options for contact vary by state, you'll be looking to contact your LD Chair, phone is best, voicemails get answered quicker than emails in my experience.
Why keep a record?
Your precinct map comes with identified, registered Democrats at addresses. You only hit them. Reduces chances you'll run into a rabid RWNJ. If anyone at an identified Democratic address demands you stop bothering them, mark them Do Not Contact, and don't return in Aug & Sept.
Of course, if you recruit a posse to help you cover more ground, and you complete your precinct... you could start knocking on those 'unidentified' households. You never know, someone or something eventually convinced Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs (@Green_Footballs) that #progressive is a good direction for the nation.
Plus, I'll be posting more regularly nearer to July, when I expect to start hearing from all of you Kossacks who accepted their mission and went forth into the world, bearing good tidings and news of #ABetterFuture awaiting us, if we all just bother to Vote on November 4th.
Who is with me?
#StrongerTogether
#WalkUrPrecinctWeek
#WhenWeVoteWeWin
Please share these hashtags on Twitter.
As I opened in my first #WalkUrPrecinctWeek diary...
There are more of us (Democratic voters) than there are of them (Republican voters).
Gallop Polls, in 2012 put the numbers at "More Americans identify as Democrats than as Republicans, 31% to 27%".
So, when I say, "when we vote, we Win", I'm basing that purely on the mathematical certainty of superior numbers.
When we Vote, we Win!