(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . I don't care if you are a believer or not. I care if you are willing to fight for democracy. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-19 For days now, all I see are stories in which people are engaging in Pie Fights over religion. I hope you’ve all had enough, because that is a well so deep that there is no bottom. What is worth talking about is how YOU in particular can make a difference in the next election cycle. There are 175K precincts in the United States, and each one of them needs a PCO (precinct committee officer, or whatever you call that position locally). This is the person who attends the monthly Democratic Party meetings in your county. Who knocks on the doors of the approx. 1,000 voters who live in your precinct, to deliver literature and information about upcoming elections and candidates. My granddad called this Backyard Fence politics, and he said it was the most effective way to get people voting. I agree with him. The people over the backyard fence are already familiar with you and will be more willing to spend a few minutes listening to & talking with you about this important but often boring stuff than they would a stranger. We all know (or should at this point) that big change doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time, sometimes decades to shift how people vote in this country. The GOP knows it. They took up the work of making America more conservative again in the Reagan era and they’ve never stopped working on it. What has the past 40 years brought us? A massively funded effort to influence at the local level, to increase voter registration and voting participation in all elections for conservatives. It’s how they’ve transformed the formerly Business-friendly Republican Party into a club full of nut jobs who believe nonsense and vote for idiots and fools. But they have been very successful at that, and it has brought the nation to the brink of another civil war over the past couple of years. The spectre of another Trump Administration is mind-boggling to say the least, but even should the DOJ indict, prosecute and convict that flaming pile of blatherskiting poo, the Republicans will still nominate someone, and it will not be anyone any of us will want in the White House for four to eight years, I guarantee you. So enjoy the spring of 2023 as much as you can, because by July 4th, there will be announcements about candidates for the 2024 POTUS election on your tv & device screens, begging for your dollars. But what I want you to think about instead (because that election will start to take up all of the oxygen in the country by mid-fall) is your local scene. Please consider becoming a PCO, a Precinct Captain or whatever your local Democratic Party calls that ground floor position. Make a real difference, right where you live. Get new people registered to vote, and informed about the next election as it gets closer. Because voter participation since 1920 is only about 60% Our great, great, great grandparents knew the value of their vote, why don’t we? From 1840 to 1900 the average rate of voter participation in presidential races was about 80% and in 2020 it was barely 61%. If you think this country should be a lot more reasonable and a lot less gun crazy, then you’ll help turn out the folks who could make a huge difference if they’d only get registered and voting in 2024 and beyond. There are about 30% of us who just never vote, ever. WE CAN DO BETTER All it takes is people setting priorities, taking time out of their life to participate in their local County Party and engaging the people who live in the neighborhoods near your own home about elections and voting. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I urge you to take that first step and widen your horizons. Because it takes a lot of effort to Build A Better Future for our families, and in the era of Climate Change that work can be the difference between a future worth living in and one that scares the daylights out of me every time I think about it. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/19/2153872/-I-don-t-care-if-you-are-a-believer-or-not-I-care-if-you-are-willing-to-fight-for-democracy Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/