An Army of the Good
I'm not normal.
That was the exact thought I had last Thursday morning at 9:30 A.M. while I waited to get on a Zoom organizing call with the Biden/Harris campaign. I mean, not only was I about to join my third separate campaign to do voter outreach but I was also doing so on a day and time that was during my vacation week. Even worse, I was actually looking forward to hopping on this call and then getting out there and doing voter contact and outreach on my vacation week. At a time when I should have been relaxing and/or sleeping, I was jazzed up about the upcoming opportunity to start engaging voters in swing states for the Biden/Harris campaign.
I was not alone.
On the call that morning was over 1,200 people like me from across the country. Not all of them had previously worked for a campaign or had already been doing some form of voter contact this cycle as I had done. Yet all of them were there, most likely coffee in hand, to give up their time to help the campaign. What was even more remarkable was that this was one of six training times offered throughout the week. Quick math means that roughly 7,000 new campaign volunteers entered the fold last week alone. And that's just the texting team from the national campaign. There were thousands of other volunteers who potentially joined their own state campaigns, which are offering localized, targeted voter outreach. There are also groups like Beto O'Rourke's PAC, Powered By People, who are also doing targeted voter outreach in states like Texas. Whether it was text messaging or making phone calls, there were likely tens of thousands of new people who got involved last week alone.
Each of these people has a story. They have a story about why they care. They have a story about why they put themselves out there, talking to strangers about politics, two of the most difficult things to do. It is a social faux pas to speak about politics with loved ones but to do it with a total stranger? Blasphemy! Yet, that is exactly what each and every person is doing for the sake of the greater good. Conversations can be unpleasant, frustrating, and downright cruel. Seeing a potential voter succumb to apathy can be soul-crushing. Hearing someone say both parties are the same can cringe-worthy. And having a Trump supporter suggests that you engage in self-copulation can be rage-inducing.
Nevertheless, these people persist.
And they persist because they know that deep down inside, America is better than this. America is better than the 20% of Americans who proudly wave MAGA flags and literally leave their fellow Americans in their wake. These Trump supporters are not who we are. They are relics of a by-gone era. An era where women were barefoot and pregnant and the colored folks knew their place. An era where a man could speak his mind, no matter how offensive the words. An era where immigrants worked in the shadows, neither to be seen nor heard. An era where love was meant to be between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. An era where straight, White men could say and do as they please and not have to deal with any repercussions for their actions.
That's not our America and that's why so many people are taking up the call to volunteer. Because the last four years have been a stain on our country. America has taken two steps back. The damage will be hard to overcome but it will not be insurmountable. What the last four years have taught us is that our country is filled with good, decent people willing to stand up for injustice. The Women's March. The Parkland kids. The ACLU lawyers fighting the Muslim Ban. Mutual aid networks that have emerged to help the most vulnerable in our communities during COVID-19. A record number of women and people of color running for, and being elected to, local political offices. And countless volunteers giving as little as an hour a week to make sure that each and every person who is eligible can and does vote in November.
These people are true heroes, although they won't think of themselves as such. It is their humility that is critical to their work. They see themselves as simply doing what they can during America's time of need. But the truth is, these people are making a difference. With two months to go, Joe Biden has a consistent lead and that lead is due, in part, to voter engagement. With early voting starting as soon as next week in some states, this work will continue to ramp up until Election Day. Each person contacted, ID'ed, and given the correct voting information could very well make the difference in the swing states. There will inevitably be Republican-supported voter suppression. There will inevitably be a Russian disinformation campaign. But at the end of the day if there is overwhelming support for Joe Biden and for Democrats up and down the ballot, then none of that will matter. The only thing that will matter will be just how convincing Joe Biden's victory is and how that victory is a rebuke to everything that Donald Trump and the Republican Party represents.
And it will be a victory for everyone who did their part.