...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Thursday, July 03, 2003
      ( 9:12 AM )
 
What Did You Do Last Night?

I adopted three Iowans. Yep - Ruth, Joseph and Milton will all be receiving personal letters from me sometime this week. I went to one of the three Dean Meet Ups here in Portland last night, and it was a blast. There were over 200 people and it was just so cool to be surrounded by people who have hope about our country turning around. The Dean Campaign provided stationery, envelopes and postage and we all wrote to registered democrats in Iowa to encourage them to support Dean in their caucus. We don't have a meaningful primary here in Oregon (it's not until May), so it felt good to have personal contact with people who actually could make a difference with their votes a half a year from now.

I don't mean for this blog to become all Howard Dean all the time, but this week has just been very exciting. I think I figured out last night why I feel so inspired and so ready and willing to work for a political campaign when I never have before. In all my many years of activism, as most activists know, all I've known is the rage-against-the-machine mentality. Almost every activist who is committed to an issue or group fights despite the fact that it most often is a lost cause. You take pride in the small wins and you keep fighting because the effort is worth it. But this time, it actually feels like there will be a big victory at the end - activism for this cause will actually produce a triumphant outcome. It's a different feeling to work for something you actually believe has the potential to overcome the odds and actually come to fruition. While I'll never give up my activism for the things I believe in, no matter how lost of causes they may seem to people, I am really energized by Howard Dean's campaign, the people in it, and the idea that it is powered by people like me, not big corporate money interests or DLC centrist power brokers.

If you haven't checked it out, I encourage you to just sign up and go to a meet up in your town next month - just to get a look for yourself at what is happening at the grassroots level in this country. It will give you a sense of empowerment - and that's what is really needed for the people of this country these days.

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