The Long Hot Summer of My Discontent

Most minds and many more wallets remain closed for the summer... emails go unread... the bulk of supporters who rallied and raised for '04 are staying out of the fray.
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It's the people PEOPLE!!!! And you people are killing me!!! I am dying here and it is not from the heat!

See here's the thing... I believe in government. I believe that it can help people, protect people and even sometimes inspire people. I say this with all of my heart and with one small caveat: Government is only as good as the people we elect to govern. The genius of the obvious you say? Well yeah right, as we used to say in junior high, "No duh?". So where is everyone? Why is there so little support for the good guys? There are some great people out there running for crucial seats in the House and Senate with a very real chance of winning. This is very good news! We should be thrilled, we should be shouting from the rooftops "Hey Washington... Sanity called... she's planning on prevailing here!!" We should be standing our ground, teeth bared, ready to take a bite out of this administration!!!

Alas, all I am hearing is a collective yawn. Talk about politics and there is an audible sigh followed by the inevitable: "Will it be Hillary?" "Do you think a woman can win?" Well it might be Hillary, but probably not, and a woman probably cannot win (Condoleeza? Give me a break!), but the truth of the matter is it doesn't MATTER!! Without a majority in the House and Senate no President -- man, woman or syncophant can govern effectively.

The '06 election is drawing ever closer and some very good folks are running neck and neck with uber-right incumbents. Men like Sherrod Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse... true progressive Democrats who are carrying our message and beating big odds by leading in the polls. We have a real chance here to elect some people people! This is exciting!!!!

Yawn.

I call and cajole. I email. I spend more money than I should preparing meals and entertainment trying to lure Democrats out of their nests to meet and support our best candidates. My friends and fellow volunteers do the same. We open our homes, our arms and our hearts to any candidate with the guts to stand up for our country and our values. We've tried offering croquet, spoken word and jazz trios. I have cooked meals for 200, dragged countless cases of wine to event after event... made my famous plum tarts. All to very limited effect. A few respond. The same small, loyal band of Democrats who show up time after time. We are the faithful, the true believers, the never-say-die-ers, but I gotta tell ya folks ... you are killing us!!!

Where are the hordes of folks who flew to Arizona and Florida and Ohio and knocked on doors?

Where are the phone bankers and the cocktail crowd? Where are those pesky Hollywood liberals?

We have a chance to win the Governorship in Ohio and send a Democrat to the Senate from OHIO, yet volunteers and donors are dormant. Most minds and many more wallets remain closed for the summer... emails go unread... the bulk of supporters who rallied and raised for '04 are staying out of the fray. Some claim to be "burnt out." Others are buried in work... just too busy. Still more are of late responding "Sorry, we are in Jamaica."

Well okay cool, but don't cry to me when Greenland ends up on your lawn, or your pals can't afford their diabetes meds. No more bitching about Bush and the evil Cheney and the detestable Rove. Their side is playing for keeps and if we let them win it's on us.

You don't take flowers to a knife fight people and these guys are street fighters (albeit with bad hair and wrinkled suits). Their corporate pals are making record profits, they have effectively drained the Treasury and are blissfully plotting a war on Iran. We are going to have to tear this country out of their hands and we are going to take some hits in the process. Okay? So no crying in politics... not anymore... it is time to go gangsta... it is time to rumble.

So Francine Busby lost. So what? This is not some great indication of things to come. This is not some gloom-soaked bell-weather. Francine is a hell of a candidate and she did not lose because we are essentially weaker. She did not lose for lack of veracity or tenacity. She lost because they outspent us 6 to 1. They put up their dukes and we went to our corners.

It is that simple folks.

So if you want your Country back? If you would like to entertain the notion of a President who can read, who has heard of Global Warming, who prays for the good of all Americans, not just the ones who look like him (oh alright him/her). Then you had best get on it... now. Right here in boring old '06. Go to the net and find out who is running, who is winning and how you can help! Give to Sherrod and Sheldon and the others. Find out what the Progressive Majority is up to. Check in with Howard Dean. Just do something... anything!!! I am begging you!

This is America and if we can dream it we can do it, but we can only do it with good government. We can and must elect leaders who are good and true and not afraid to fight. I believe in our future. I believe that this Country will find its brain and its heart and live up to its promise and yes, to its promises. I believe this and I am willing to work for it, pray for it and pay for it.

So go ahead... spam block me... lie to me about being out of town... tell me again why you can't help and don't care. I am not giving up on you. I am going to keep reaching out and you can bet I will be calling and cajoling and cooking my way into your hearts and minds, because it's the people people. It's of the people, by the people, and for the people. You are it people.

You are all we've got.

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