I’m tired and I can’t go on. How many times have you uttered those words to yourself over the past year and a half? How many times have you thrown your hands up in the air because it is too overwhelming, too exhausting, too infuriating? But yet as you sit there, ready to throw in the towel and give up you see another stupid thing the fake president did, one more attempted attack on democracy from Congress, and you muster up the energy to pick yourself up and keep going.
We have all had days like that. Saving Democracy is fun, but it is also a lot of work. A lot of hard, tiresome, exhausting work. Yet we continue to do it because it is important. It is our calling and our responsibility to ensure strong, progressive candidates are elected so they can begin to serve as the check on the executive branch and slow down the destruction of all we hold so dear.
The hardest and the most effective work we can do right now, is to be the actual boots on the ground. It is the weekends we spend in the heat and cold and rain and sun knocking on doors and educating voters. It is giving up family time so we can hand out literature, talk face-to-face, and encourage others to go vote. It is the most critical thing we can do between now and November 6th.
Just this year, Doug Jones won in Alabama. Conor Lamb won by just 627 votes in Pennsylvania and in a huge upset, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Joseph Crowley in New York’s 14th House District. What do they all have in common? They canvassed, they hit the pavement, they had hundreds of volunteers out there every available day talking with voters and getting the message out. Every one of these candidates have said the same thing, they were out in the community talking with voters, building name recognition and listening to the concerns of constituents. That is how they did it. That is how they were successful despite the odds against them.
Candidates cannot do it all on their own. Hundreds of volunteers like us contribute immeasurably to the campaign. Every knock on a door, every potential voter we encounter represents a vote, a vote for the candidate we choose to support. Every vote counts and every vote is needed. Races are getting closer and tighter and the stakes are higher than ever. As I write this we are still waiting to hear about the outcome from the Ohio special election which has been too close to call since their primary a few weeks ago.
Saving Democracy is hard, but it is our responsibility to do it. The first step is getting out the door, picking up that clipboard and knocking those doors. We don’t want to think on November 7th that if only I did more maybe we could have had a different result. Now is the time to do the work so we can raise a glass and celebrate the payoff.
Won’t you join me in hitting the pavement? Together we can be the difference.
