Sunday, September 12, 2004
Don't mourn: organize!
This morning I was walking to the local hotspot when I saw a woman wearing a Kerry button.
"Where did you get that Kerry button?" I asked
"On the Internet—but you can have it." And she handed it to me.
So now I can wear my Kerry button on my morning commute. Guess I have to shave every day now!
Alert reader raison de fem sends in a longer piece on more or less the same thing. Here it is:
Someone was telling me today that they think it's all over, that aWol will win. We might as well pack it up, go home, hunker down and stay drunk for the next four years. This coming from someone who thinks that Bush is taking us on a one-way trip to Armageddon.
The reason? Most Americans are stupid, she says. Most Americans think he's a "strong leader." And they are running a much smarter, much dirtier campaign, and it's too late to catch up, she says. "You can't defeat the forces of evil," she says.
I refuse to buy into this. Fuck the polls. This thing is winnable. We are sooooo close. They are sooooo vulnerable.
I'm talking to everybody these days. About the lies. What lies? I have handouts. Top ten Bush lies from the DNC, in Spanish and English (http://www.democrats.org/specialreports/top10_lies/). Surf the web and find your favorite. Make copies for a dime each in town at the library. Go door to door. Here, read 'em and weep. Have you registered to vote? No? Come on. They have forms at the library in town. Need a ride to the polls on E-day? I'll come get you. Local Dems need someone to call 20 folks day before E-day and on E-day and remind 'em to vote. I can do that. Make sure the folks you know get absentee ballots? Yeah, I can do that.
Look, Michael Moore is right. We CAN win this thing. Most Americans are NOT morons who'll believe whatever FUX tells them. Most Americans are scared, scared to take back their country, scared to speak their mind and lose their job. But most Americans, I'm sure--and I get around a lot--are a helluva lot closer to the platform of the Dems than the Dicks. They just don't KNOW. Or they're too beat and whipped down to believe a vote can change anything. But tell them. You don't have to be high profile. You don't have to be alone. You can do so much, even while keeping your head attached to your neck. Yes, big brother may be watching. But big brother is slow and stupid, and we are fast and smart.
We can't change everyone's mind. And maybe my friend is wrong, maybe Bush won't kill us all because of pushing the wrong button, maybe. But there are several Supremes who have to leave soon, and all you need to envision is what a Bush-packed court would mean to civil liberties, the environment and reproductive rights in order to GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR. STOP SHOUTING AT THE TEEVEE. Organize, get letters in the papers, hand out literature, talk to people. The Forces of Evil, you bet your ass, are organized, scarily focused, eyes on the prize. Wear your button. Put a sticker on your car and a sign in your yard. If the campaign comes to a town nearby, GO. And time is short. It's Labor Day, goddamit--ORGANIZE.
When millions of 18 year olds, people of color, the poor and those without health care or decent jobs, women who aren't ready to go back to the 1950's, old hippies and beats and civil rights activists who remember the dream, the dispossessed, union folks, religious folks who fight for peace and justice as part of their faith, and all of us with so much to lose, show up at our local polling place or mail in our absentee ballot, we will be firing one little shot at the heart of evil, firing one little shot to a better future we can almost taste. And a lot of one little shots can make one big impact.
"Where did you get that Kerry button?" I asked
"On the Internet—but you can have it." And she handed it to me.
So now I can wear my Kerry button on my morning commute. Guess I have to shave every day now!
Alert reader raison de fem sends in a longer piece on more or less the same thing. Here it is:
Someone was telling me today that they think it's all over, that aWol will win. We might as well pack it up, go home, hunker down and stay drunk for the next four years. This coming from someone who thinks that Bush is taking us on a one-way trip to Armageddon.
The reason? Most Americans are stupid, she says. Most Americans think he's a "strong leader." And they are running a much smarter, much dirtier campaign, and it's too late to catch up, she says. "You can't defeat the forces of evil," she says.
I refuse to buy into this. Fuck the polls. This thing is winnable. We are sooooo close. They are sooooo vulnerable.
I'm talking to everybody these days. About the lies. What lies? I have handouts. Top ten Bush lies from the DNC, in Spanish and English (http://www.democrats.org/specialreports/top10_lies/). Surf the web and find your favorite. Make copies for a dime each in town at the library. Go door to door. Here, read 'em and weep. Have you registered to vote? No? Come on. They have forms at the library in town. Need a ride to the polls on E-day? I'll come get you. Local Dems need someone to call 20 folks day before E-day and on E-day and remind 'em to vote. I can do that. Make sure the folks you know get absentee ballots? Yeah, I can do that.
Look, Michael Moore is right. We CAN win this thing. Most Americans are NOT morons who'll believe whatever FUX tells them. Most Americans are scared, scared to take back their country, scared to speak their mind and lose their job. But most Americans, I'm sure--and I get around a lot--are a helluva lot closer to the platform of the Dems than the Dicks. They just don't KNOW. Or they're too beat and whipped down to believe a vote can change anything. But tell them. You don't have to be high profile. You don't have to be alone. You can do so much, even while keeping your head attached to your neck. Yes, big brother may be watching. But big brother is slow and stupid, and we are fast and smart.
We can't change everyone's mind. And maybe my friend is wrong, maybe Bush won't kill us all because of pushing the wrong button, maybe. But there are several Supremes who have to leave soon, and all you need to envision is what a Bush-packed court would mean to civil liberties, the environment and reproductive rights in order to GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR. STOP SHOUTING AT THE TEEVEE. Organize, get letters in the papers, hand out literature, talk to people. The Forces of Evil, you bet your ass, are organized, scarily focused, eyes on the prize. Wear your button. Put a sticker on your car and a sign in your yard. If the campaign comes to a town nearby, GO. And time is short. It's Labor Day, goddamit--ORGANIZE.
When millions of 18 year olds, people of color, the poor and those without health care or decent jobs, women who aren't ready to go back to the 1950's, old hippies and beats and civil rights activists who remember the dream, the dispossessed, union folks, religious folks who fight for peace and justice as part of their faith, and all of us with so much to lose, show up at our local polling place or mail in our absentee ballot, we will be firing one little shot at the heart of evil, firing one little shot to a better future we can almost taste. And a lot of one little shots can make one big impact.
