Becoming the Tony Little for Obama

[Alcibiades]

Or maybe Richard Simmons, take your pick.

Initially, I'd thought I'd respond to the following post, but thought better of it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6692087&mesg_id=6693460

This post does point up a real problem. Some people will not be self-starters: they won't go out and show up for a canvass unless we ask. The average level of political activity in this country is so low that people need encouragement: just as we rely on exercise gurus to get us off of the couch, we need our grassroots activists to recruit new activists. We do need them to help build this movement. What we need to do to empower these people is to reach out to them, to contact them, to tell them where to go and what to do--not in a patronizing way, but because they sincerely don't know how to get the change they want.

This brings me to another point: leadership. When I was a young fellow, the very concept angered me. People should figure out what to do for themselves: besides, leadership implies followership, and that's a dangerous mentality. Now that I'm a little older, I see leadership as a necessary evil. People are told what to do by their parents, their teachers, and their bosses, and spend the rest of their time sitting passively in front of the TV, absorbing the messages other folks want them to see without using even a wee little bit of the free will they were granted by the enlightenment. It's a little optimistic to expect too much of folks, and so we must take them as they are, and hope that the process makes them better.

So we need leaders. We need many of the people who might be used to acting as footsoldiers to step up and become lieutenants and captains. They are relying on those of us who have been doing this for a while for a little help in that. You say you don't have what it takes to be a leader? You're shy, or homely, or short, or, or, or..... fake it. It doesn't matter. Get over whatever it is and be the Tony Little of political activism. Smile, stand straight, speak up, look people in the eye, and pretend that you are confident. If you listen to the best part of yourself, you'll find you have more charisma, and more capacity for leadership, than you ever imagined.

People have enough to worry about. When it comes to any time they might have to volunteer, they shouldn't have to do a lot of thinking when it comes to getting involved. Don't have good turnout at your events? Go onto mybarackobama and recruit people yourself. Don't rely on campaign staff to do it for you: these young, hardworking folks have enough on their plates. Take some off of it by organizing your little corner of the US and turning it a deep shade of blue. Quite a many folks are simply paralyzed, for whatever reason, because they need someone to tell them what to do. Fortunately, some other folks know what to do. We need you to go out and tell other folks what to do. Are you bossy? Stop bossing your spouse around and take charge (but please be nicer than you are to your spouse, because the way a ticked off volunteer gets revenge isn't by hiring a lawyer, but by not showing up next time). Even if you're not an inspiring person, fake it.

[NYC_SKP]

1. K and R, people need to be lifted up, not everyone is a self-starter. nt