I arrived at Austin Thursday just in time to hear Howard Dean speak outside the convention center.
It was one of those moments in life where timing is perfect.
In many ways Howard Dean’s work as a presidential candidate and then as DNC chairman got me there.
I landed in Austin very tired. I had slept the night before at a rest area off the interstate to save money from driving home to West Virginia and then driving to BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport.
I had about three hours of sleep and slept on my flight to Atlanta and then slept on my flight to Austin.
I took the bus (50 cents) from the airport to downtown Austin about three blocks from the convention center.
There was a crowd outside and I stopped. A man asked to put a sticker on me for Texas for Equality LGBT community. I said sure and got another sticker on my other shoulder with “Doing my part to piss off the religious right.”
As founder of West Virginia Blue, I’ve wanted to create a Netroots community where ordinary West Virginians who feel like their voices are not being heard could have an outlet so they could be heard.
Just as the Dean campaign showed many of his supporters that they have the power to create the America they want, I’ve tried to provide an instrument for West Virginians to feel empowered politically, a place where they can organize.
As I stood there in the Texas heat, I saw Booman of Booman Tribune on my left. I shook hands with Boo. Then kos of Daily Kos walked up and was on my right. I shook hands with him too.
Dean’s speech was what I needed to hear as he talked about how the Democrats are challenging Republicans for Congressional seats and are going to challenge for the White House in states that have been going for Republicans.
Here’s his speech.
He’s calling on all of us to do more. “The most powerful people in America with the power to get people to vote is you.”
Throughout our nation’s history, ordinary Americans have been called upon to do extraordinary things from taking a stand in Massachusetts as the Redcoats formed ranks to holding the line on a ridge at Gettysburg as a gray wave advanced to figuring out how to get a man to the Moon and back to forming a picket line in the face of corporate gunmen.
What we’re being asked to do is to talk to our neighbors, such a small price to pay to work for the form of government we want.
Too many of our elected Democrats have made that hard to do at times. The answer is to not give up because some of them have let us down. The answer is to recognize that it’s a long struggle to achieve the change we want – the change we need to make for ourselves and other Americans. And it’s not just our own lives and futures riding on this. Due to our unique position in the world, our efforts are not just for Americans. They can make a difference in the lives of people dying in civil wars in Africa, or in cars that made a turn down a street in Iraq at the wrong time.
The differences that separate us from the Republicans are not percentages in tax rates. They’re differences that involve the future of the planet. If we want to try to save Mother Earth from the effects of global warming, we’ve got to be willing to talk to our neighbors about it.
As Dr. Dean said, voting just gets you a D in his class. True participation as a citizen requires more.
Because Barack Obama’s not going to solve our problems. Howard Dean isn’t going to solve our problems. The issues facing us are too big. It’s going to take all of us to solve our problems.
Which leads me back to Dean. His 50-state strategy is more than just a political gimmick. It means that every state matters just as every voter mamtters. We’re not the blue states of America. And we’re certainly not the red states of America no matter how much the right crowed we were in 2004. We are the UNITED States of America.
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I also would not be here without a Democracy for America scholarship provided by all those who generously donated, as well as Land of Enchantment, Kid Oakland, trashablanca, SallyCat, Clem, a kind doctor in Alabama, and all those who nominated me.
Thank you.
