(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Things Kids Say at their Doors: A Virginia Canvass Report [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-09 Every once in awhile, children will join a parent when they answer the door. Some times it is just curiosity. But, Saturday, it was because this young (voter age) male heard the conversation and wanted to interject. This isn’t the first time, in my experience. But it isn’t that common. I was walking the targeted voter (the young male was not on my list) through the GOTV spiel when he suddenly appeared at the door with his mother. And he didn’t wait too long before he spoke up: “None of that will be important, Mom, unless we deal with climate change!” I got the feeling like this is something that has been discussed before. “Not now,” she responded. “That’s what you people say all the time. We can’t wait!” Vehemently. Now I am knocking on doors to turn out voters. Early voting has already begun. So you don’t want to do anything to deter a likely supporter from turning out to cast a ballot. “Are you registered to vote?” I asked. “I am.” Again, not on my list. “Are you going to join your mother in voting in this election?” “I am voting, but not at the same time as her.” oooooookay! She already told me she was voting for the candidate i was canvassing for. So it seems unlikely that he will be voting for the Trump-supporting MAGA candidate running. But it felt like i stepped into something! One of the things that many progressive and Democrats miss is that we aren’t organized like Republicans. We never coalesced around a couple of organizing principles. We have organized, ever since FDR, around multiple issues and we don’t all agree on supporting all those issues. Democrats have made the decision that it is in *their* interest to coalesce with others who basically share a broad set of interests. Climate Change is one of those broad set of interests. Abortion is another. The son perceives there is a conflict between the two, but there’s not. There is merely a conflict in that household over priority. Of course, i can’t explain that at their door. I was trying to convince them to go vote, not argue with them about personal priorities. This year (2023), we have rarely encountered Climate Change single issue voters, nor has it made our Top 3 lists except during those weeks that saw an excessive heatwave. We’ve knocked on 4,450,469 doors this year (so far) and talked to 314,224 voters. The Economy remains the overarching issue before this election, but the subject of Reproductive Healthcare is what is driving a critical subset of voters to the polls. Climate Change voters can’t try to impose their views upon others without better arguments that appeal to those who don’t share their views. But they can strengthen the Democratic coalition and ensure their personal priorities get more emphasis in our policy priority list. Unless we are taken over by a Trump-like candidate who is able to impose his own set of personal priorities upon other Democrats. Which doesn’t seem likely, since we aren’t organized in the same fashion as Republicans. But if we don’t vote, and get those who share our views to vote, we are stuck. Voting isn’t the end goal, it is the beginning to achieve those goals. Things, or thoughts, i couldn’t share at the door. Because GOTV, baby! I wanted them both to go vote this Fall... [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/9/2198249/-Things-Kids-Say-at-their-Doors-A-Virginia-Canvass-Report?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web 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/