I am grateful to all of you who voted on November 8, and especially to those who searched their souls and concluded that discrimination of any kind is wrong. Thank you!
Thanks, too, to the volunteers who helped bring information about candidates and issues to us voters. Your caring dedication is much appreciated.
And, of course, the courageous and committed souls who ran for office, whether you won or not, deserve great respect. I am in awe of your willingness to put your life on hold to run your campaigns and, if successful, to serve the public trust in the coming term.
Voting, volunteering and running for office are all vital tasks in making our democracy work. It is through the democratic process that we decide what kinds of communities we want and what kinds of public investments in those communities we are willing to make. It is through this process that we decide what constitutes fair treatment of our citizens, and how best to promote opportunity for everyone.
Guess what? Now you have a chance to step up to the line, too. It’s officially the start of a new election cycle! I participated fully during the 2003-2004 Presidential Campaigns. I started out going to a house party and seeing a video of a candidate speaking to the issues so brilliantly that I raised my hand to volunteer. I began coordinating house parties, finding hosts, and creating kits with videos, sign-up sheets and donation envelopes. Before long, I became co-coordinator of the campaign in Maine, and off I went into 24-hour mode on top of my regular work. What an experience!
I was helping the town Democratic Committees find convenors for their February caucus, so of course I went to my own Standish Caucus. It was so exciting to see how many other involved citizens with similar values showed up! I was elected to be a delegate to the Convention for my candidate, so we shifted our focus to the Maine Democratic Convention in June.
I found out that if I circulated petitions and gathered signatures from other Democrats, I could run to be a National Delegate and an Elector. I went to the party committee meetings in the next few months and asked people to sign my petitions. It was pretty easy to get enough signatures and to submit them to the party for voting at the Convention.
The Convention elected me to be a National Delegate and a member of the Electoral College, should the Maine citizens elect a Democratic candidate for the Presidency. We did, and I cast one of Maine’s electoral ballots for Senator Kerry.
I tell you all this to paint a picture of the election cycle in which I ask you to get involved. It all starts with your local community and your town’s Democratic (or Republican!) Committee. Right now, we in Standish have called a meeting of active and concerned Democrats and other progressives to start organizing for the coming cycle. If you are not aware of an active party committee in your town, give a call to your town clerk, and (s)he should know who was elected at the last caucus to be the Town Chair. If no one’s active, you can visit www.mainedems.org to contact your County Chair.
Get involved! Express your concerns! Plan actions to raise awareness. Help us organize. Put the municipal caucus date of February 26th on your calendar. You will get to know your neighbors, build your community, invest your time in our future, discover how deep your passion is, and have a lot of fun.
Contact Lu at fair@lubauer.com.
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