It’s Tuesday. Next Tuesday is Election Day. Only seven days left, and it’s not over yet.
Even though voting started quite a while ago (I mailed in my ballot already), this is our Last Chance to bring real change. Here are seven things you can do, even if you don’t have a lot of time, to make sure the best ideas and policies win on November 4:
1) Knock on doors in your neighborhood today and every day, including Nov. 4.
Get in touch with your local candidate or the Obama campaign, and they’ll get you going. This is, by far, the most effective way to turn out the vote. I’ll be out from 6am on Election Day. Let’s do this.
2) Make phone calls in your neighborhood.
This is the second most effective way to turn out the vote. If you haven’t done this before, head down to your local campaign’s office and they’ll get you going.
3) Live in a “safe” or non-competitive district? Make phone calls to a swing state or a competitive election.
Head over to www.barackobama.com, and they’ll get you dialing to a swing state from the comfort of your living room. Or, call a candidate you support and find out how to get involved making calls.
4) Email or call your friends and family with a short, personal message about a candidate or issue you support.
Believe it or not, not all of your friends are going to vote.
6) Volunteer to help take voters to the polls on Election Day.
Get in touch with your local candidate to offer your services helping people who need a ride to the polls.
7) Make a financial contribution to a candidate or issue you support.
Not sure how or even who you want to donate to? www.actblue.com
Before getting to why I’m officially endorsing Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, for President of the United States, please allow me to talk about the candidates and issues I’m supporting here in Santa Barbara, California.
I met Hannah-Beth Jackson very soon after I arrived in California. And over the past five years, I’ve enjoyed meeting and chatting with “HBJ” quite a few times. Unlike most people running for office, HBJ really does spend most of her time speaking with the people she wants to represent. I’ve seen her at rallies for working people, at meetings to talk about protecting the environment, and then we were both teaching at UCSB. We went to lunch one day on campus, and we swapped stories about students and about our hopes for the future of education.
For far too long, the 19th Senate District has been represented by Hannah-Beth Jackson’s polar opposite. While Hannah-Beth Jackson spends most of her time speaking with people here in the district, Tom McClintock hasn’t even lived here for years. Where Hannah-Beth Jackson wants to restore education, McClintock and his ideologue, extremist Republican friends in the Senate have let school budgets crash and burn, just so that they can protect their yacht-owning pals. McClintock, fortunately, isn’t on the ballot this year (he’s running as a carpetbagger for Congress up north). But McClintock’s hand-picked protege, a Bush-style Republican extremist is on the ballot. The race is too close to call in the polls, but HBJ represents a starkly better choice.
Hannah-Beth Jackson thinks we need to strengthen our economy by investing in better and safer transportation, by providing cleaner and safer neighborhoods, and by protecting the environment while cutting energy costs through a serious commitment to new energies. Her opponent literally opposes all of these priorities, because the only thing he’ll do is vote with his Republican friends to protect corporate interests. These failed Republican policies don’t work, so it’s time to vote them out. That’s why I’m voting Hannah-Beth for State Senate in the 19th District.
The quality of education at the University of California (where I have been a graduate student since 2003) is plummeting. I hear from my friends at the California State Universities that things are looking equally bad there, too. Why are these proud institutions rapidly losing their reputation as world-class centers of learning?
Budget cuts. Every year since 2003, the budget for the UC and the CSU have been slashed. This year, it’s worse than ever.
While the university administration and Republicans in Sacramento can blame the financial crisis for the free-falling budget, make no mistake.
The budget for California education has not been slashed because of the 2008 bank mess. The budget for education has been slashed because of the failed Republican ideology which says that all public money is “socialism.”
Well, like you, I really like my “socialist” libraries, highways, fire departments, and universities. The anti-public Republican philosophy is bankrupt, and the damage from that philosophy is continuing to spread. Over the past five years, I’ve watched as the GOP has gutted the University of California.
The cratering economy is the biggest political concern for most Americans these days. Jobs are scarce, wages and the stock market are falling, banks are collapsing, and inflation is growing. But recently, Republican presidential candidate John McCain hasn’t been very eager to talk about the economy. Instead, McCain has made these two issues central to his campaign: domestic terrorism and voter registration fraud. Right.
McCain and his campaign have spent a lot of money and time putting the word “terrorist” next to Barack Obama, in a blatant attempt to link Obama to terrorism. The thinking in the McCain camp apparently is that some independent voters will become too frightened to vote for Obama because of this new strategy. So far, this brilliant Republican plan appears to have backfired.
The other Republican strategy for victory in 2008 involves voter registration fraud. Yes, John McCain’s Republican Party has been doing its worst to decrease Democratic voter registration while boosting Republican voter registration.
Meanwhile, as a smokescreen for all of the GOP’s illegal dirty tricks, McCain and his VP candidate mention every day how awful it is that ACORN (an advocacy group representing poor people and minorities) turned in some fake voter registration forms. McCain says ACORN and Obama are linked, and for that reason, Obama has been destroying American democracy. Why doesn’t John McCain want more people to vote? It seems like he’d prefer to make voting as difficult as possible.
Today was the deadline to register to vote in California, and people have been lining up in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina to cast early ballots. Obama and the Democrats are doing their best to help people to vote, and hopefully democracy will win along with the Democrats on November 4.
And just like that, General Colin Powell (Ret.) earns himself a Stephen Colbert Personal Hero Award.
General Powell has a long and distinguished career of impressing me. As one of the most decorated officers in Army history; and, since his retirement, as a well respected statesman, Colin Powell has always been the kind of Republican that commands admiration from all Americans. Despite his inexcusable role in starting the Iraq War, General Powell had the good sense to resign from the Bush Administration’s Secretary of State office as soon as he could without causing undue disruption. General Powell has earned the respect even of those of us who often disagree with his positions on the issues.
Today, he summarized the choice we have in the general election and made a powerful and well reasoned endorsement of Senator Barack Obama. He dismissed the racialized Republican effort to associate Barack Obama with terrorism, and then General Powell dismissed the racialized effort to associate Muslims with terrorism.
General, you have today earned your greatest honor. You’re now my Personal Hero. Congratulations.
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