Politics Is Local

I heard from the County Chair today that one of our Party members was so disgusted with the Democrats nationally that they were thinking about quitting. That's really not a good thing.

It sucks on several levels. Our County Party can't afford to lose active members, I don't think any can, but we get about a 1% involvement, that's not a lot of folks. (sure, Multnomah would have to rent a hall, we ain't them) This idea makes "us" responsible for people we have no contact with, for Pete's sake, Ron Wyden is the only national Democrat we have any responsibility for. Now here's the big part of it, those Democrats that this person is offended by were elected by somebody and you know what? They live somewhere (other than DC). They aren't so damn special, they have neighbors or old friends that aren't all that impressed by them, but some people worked to get them through a Primary and then a General Election, it took work to get them there. There must be a reason for that work. There are some Dems that I think ought to have an "R" after their name, evidently enough people didn't agree with me. Not my deal or this person's. Those "so-called Democrats" were elected by local folks.

Now I personally am a little insulted by this kind of idea. In the course of several years my presence has made some change in the viewpoint of the County Party, gotten a State Party Resolution passed, and resulted in the name of the County being linked Statewide to a Congressional Campaign, and that campaign wasn't psuedo-Republican. Now I'm not real special or real important, I've got friends, neighbors, and relatives who'll make sure you understand that, I'm an ordinary member of the County Party. Oh yeah, I've got a title, State Central Committee Delegate, so what? I'm also a PCP, what these titles mean is that I'm a Democrat, I'm breathing, and I put my hand up. But there it is, I put my hand up. I refuse to be ignored and discounted, that's local politics. Real local, local to the inside of your head. If you really don't like the looks of Democratic politics, put your hand up, refuse to be discounted, contribute to YOUR candidate (I don't care if it's a different state), and when a candidate you like IS from your area, get to work for them. That's how you quit being disgusted by where the Party is at.

I'm sorry, Non-affilliated Registration is one of the silliest things I can think of. It makes little or no sense to me to be so alienated by Parties that what you want to do is only have a vote after the Parties have decided who gets to run. Doesn't that guarantee that you'll be unhappy with your choices? How about having a say about the choices? How about taking that disgust and turning it into action? Nah, it's much easier to just bitch about it.

I don't care whether you voted for me or not, you were offered choices, the Democrats who bothered chose. The rest of you get to take what other people did. In this race, I don't think you got hurt, in other races that's not the case. I wouldn't vote for Joe Leiberman for national office, evidently enough Democrats from his state agree enough to put a credible challenge up in their Primary. That challenge will only succeed if the Locals put in the effort and money and VOTE. You want fire-breathing Democrats, choose them, support them, work for it. Don't just walk away.