Wednesday, June 15, 2005

I'm Back!

Okay, so I decided to take some time off after the debacle of the Terri Schiavo case and the horrifying shitfuckery that Congress felt it had to do. I lost all political will to live, so to speak. I really did not know what to do in the face of such blatant stupidity...so the answer seemed obvious: shut down. Stop thinking about what's going on, give your brain some time to deal with it. All around me I saw signs of the decline of America, the signs of an approaching age of darkness. Now, don't get me wrong, I still see the signs, especially in the fact that the Downing Street Memos are being completely ignored by American media and politicians, but I also believe that there are those of us who can help turn the tide back. With the Schiavo autopsy release, I see it as a full circle, and perhaps it is time to edge back into this world again. So it is, without further ado, that I present a story I received in my email today that gives me some glimmer of hope. I want to support this guy!

Democrats Take Heart!!
Tue Jun 14th, 2005 at 18:00:13 EDT

I had an interesting visitor to my polling place today. I decided to work the polls to hand out homemade flyers about an upcoming election in November. (Local Dems are fighting to oust Bob Marshall in the VA 13th: http://www.bruce2005.org)

A nice looking man came up to me and introduced himself as a Democrat who was running for congress in 2006. He thanked me for volunteering and asked if I would hand out some flyers to Democratic voters for him. He then told me he would be running against Tom Davis! I said, "Woah, then you deserve a hug!" He returned the embrace with glee.

THEN, he gave me a ziplock bag with a variety of candy in it and a bottle of store-bought water with a little white lable saying, "It's your hard work here that makes our democracy thrive."

It also read, "Courtesy of the Hurst for Congress Cmte. http://www.Hurstforcongress.com"

WOW. Are you as impressed as I was? It kinda' blew me away.

His letter was impressive too (a one-pager that introduced himself with a colored photo within a long letter). The headline read: IT IS NOT TOO EARLY TO THINK ABOUT NEXT YEAR! His slogan is, "Hurst (Congress 2006) SOMETHING DIFFERENT"

Here is how he is thinking: "The Eleventh District cannot afford another two years of Davis. His votes contribute to the failed policies of the Bush administration. His silence emboldens a radical element in our national leadership bent on imposing their morals and values on the rest of America. His failure to act based on fear of political repercussion has left us a vacuum of leadership.

"We missed a historic chance to effectively challenge Davis in 2004. No. Virginia came out in record numbers to vote for Kerry-edwards. For the first time since Johnson, Fairfax County voted Democratic and elected our ticket by 8 percentage points. The Eleventh District went for Bush by only one percentage point... However our candidate lost to Davis by more than 20 percentage points. The dramatic drop-off of support between national and congressional tickets was a rarity nationwide.

"We can, and must, do better. Our candidate will not have the advantage of a presidential to mobilize Democrats... Our 2006 candidate will have to create their own movement, their own energy, their own passion. Business as usual will not work; we will need SOMETHING DIFFERENT."

And further, when I went to their web site, I found a very unusual credo for their campaign... and again, I was very impressed:

"We hope to change the face of Congressional politics in Northern Virginia, and eventually change the way Congress does business.

I hope you will join our effort. We have only three requirements:

You must be tolerant of the opinions of others - my campaign's Kitchen Committee is a diverse cross-section of the community we live in. We have a diverse set of beliefs, ideas and notions about how to improve the representation of our nation. We do not belittle or reject out of hand the beliefs and ideas of each other or others, including those of our opponents. No matter how little or how much you get involved in our effort, you must be respectful not only of the other people involved in the campaign, but of everyone in our community.

You must forget business as usual - this will not be the typical campaign. The ethics and principles that underpin our efforts, such as equality, fairness, dedication and hard work, are traditional and rooted in our community. However, the ways in which we communicate our ideas, as well as many of our proposals themselves, may be unlike those you have been accustomed to hearing from politicians. If you are hoping to repeat the same old slogans, use the same previously unsuccessful campaign techniques or re-hash the same tired ideas, we are probably not the team you want to join. However, if you are looking for somewhere for your creativity and passion to make a difference, you should get involved in this effort.

You must enjoy yourself - I sincerely believe that this campaign is the most important thing I have ever engaged in, and know everyone on this team believes that we can make a significant difference with our efforts. However, it is a labor of love. I am having the time of my life getting to know the people of our District and coming up with ways to make our Representative work for all of us, and I know the rest of the campaign feels likewise. If you join our team, we hope you will feel the same way -- and we will do our best to ensure that is the case.

If these requirements work for you, I hope you will join our effort. To get in touch with us, please call us at (703) 455-1014, or e-mail us at info@hurstforcongress.com. We want to hear from you!"

I never expected to be energized by a candidate for Congress when I left the house this morning at 6:20 AM.

Hooray for citizen politicians! (although he is an attorney) It may sound like I'm shilling for him, but I never heard of the guy until that moment. It was a good omen.

I agree, this gets me excited. I'm throwing my support behind him!

Posted by crimnos @ 2:32 PM