[WARNING- WHINE ATTACK FOLLOWS] HMMMMMMM Looking at my profile page i see right there in bold blue in large type, for everyone to see and judge me. for every one to make decisions on whether or not i am worthy to join their action group. for me to look at and feel guilty because i dont do enough, call enough, give enough. to shame me into doing more, giving more. to mmark me as a political slacker, a poseur, a wanna-be. a non-entity.
In my defense- I am mostly homebound disabled person, and i did try very hard to attend houseparties, but so many were NOT accessible. i did hold two house parties myself in my b uilding's commons room. And, while my donations page only shows 5 "official" dollars, i bought 6 bumper stickers and plastered them on my wheelchair; and 3 t shirts @ 25 each, and, at my small income- 600/month, that's a large contribution.
I didnt go door to door. I tried one afternoon and between lack of sidewalks, sidewalk ramps, steps, and low battery yield, it was just not feasible. I didn't make many calls. i made some, unofficial- to friends, family, contacts, but they didn'yt count. i have no home phone and very limited cel minutes, and use most of those for drs and social service business. i could not justify the extra expense of gpoing over my basic plan by 40 cents a minute. i do have free broadband with my rent, so i forwarded videos and emails and speeches and news articles instead.
What DO/DID i do? i talk to everybody i know, online and in person, discussing events as they come up, i pray. i kept and keep myself and others around me informed. i voted and i email my reps in gov from mr obama on down to keep them on their toes. i do whatever i can whenever i can and i consider myself very active politically. to hell with the 1/10 judgement call!</whine>
[update- march 4, 2009- there is evidently a 250 extra payment for some persons on ssi and veterans- i've tried to find out exact details but kinda hazy. at least its not in mixed up tax refund and my estranged husband can't get his hands on it, like he took my stimulus in 2008.... but, alas, i am not holding my breath. i know it sounds greedy of me, but the rise in inflation and decrease in non-profit ngo help available, including decreasing amounts in food box contents- due to reduced amounts of people who can manage to donate and increased amount of people needing extra help- have made things very difficult. i've been against gambling all my life but i find myself buying scratch tickets when i get groceries, as an investment, not an entertainment....the only chance to get anything extra...] I have loooked and loooked at the stimulus package and there is help for ppl able to work and have jobs, ppl able to work who are unemployed, ppl in school, but no direct help for the disabled who cannot wolrk and are on SSI, SSD, or VA Disability. looks like you have to earn a certain amount before you are "really" affected by the recession/depression... No refund or refundable credit on taxes, as it says a percentage of taxes or 500, whichever is LESS, and i guess "zero" is less. i dunno bout the rest of the ppl on disability, but the folks i know living at a fraction of the poverty level are smacked down by this recession/depression pretty darn bad, especially w state benefit and assistance cuts, shortages at foodbanks and depletion of community sources of assistance
i guess we just don't really matter to the new pres and dems... after all my partner and i make a combined total of 900 a month and only were able to donate about 70 dollars over the course of the campaigns, so we don't count...
I first registered to vote on my 18th birthday. This was in 1983, the height of the Reagan years. I registered as a Democrat, mainly because my dad was a yellow dog, party line democrat. My first presidential campaign, I volunteered for Jesse Jackson. I felt the system was corrupt and broken and we needed a fresh start. I believed Jesse was the fresh vision we needed. He lost and the Democrats chose yet another Business as Usual candidate, who lost.
There were things I liked about both parties but more that I detested. Mainly the Business as Usual attitude. What’s good for business- lesser regulations on labor practices, health issues, environmental issues- was most certainly NOT what was good for the worker. Unions were smashed or lost their influence or even became lapdogs of the Companies. Social services were gutted. Health care, education and mental health care were gutted. The politicians of both parties were gorging on the fruits of the land. I registered Independent, rejecting both parties. I lost my youthful idealism. I lost my hope.
I wandered around the fringe groups in the late 80s and 90s. The system was broken. We needed to tear it down and start over. Once in awhile there was a candidate I could start to believe in, a few in each party. But they got stomped down quickly by Business as Usual. Even Bill Clinton was Business as Usual, passing NAFTA and other Republican policies. I always voted but felt slimy and dirtied, voting for the lesser of two evils in elections.
Then a friend sent me the you tube clip of the Yes, I Can speech. I was floored. Surely this was too good to be true! I borrowed a copy of Audacity of Hope. I read everything I could about this Barack Obama. I watched all the speeches, read the blueprint for change. A strange feeling started inside me. It was…Hope. Hope that we as voters could pull ourselves out of this black hole of wars and economic depression and growing poverty of wealth and spirit.
Many of my family members and friends had also lost hope, even stopped voting. I wanted to volunteer, but what could I do? A friend for Obama asked me- could I email my address book? Yes I Can. Could I open up my house for an informational get-together? Yes I Can. Can regular people doing small things to reach out and help Barack Obama win and create real change? Yes We Can!
Right now, Oregon has a high population of Independent, fed-up voters. We need to reach out to them with Hope and use this last week of registration- ending April 29, 2008- to spread that Hope by encouraging re-registration to put Obama over the top for the Democratic nomination. Can we do this? Can we really win? Can we really turn around this country we love? Yes, We Can!
